Blast kills Australian deminer in Iraq area retaken from IS

An explosion today killed an Australian demining expert working to clear an area of northern Iraq that Kurdish forces recaptured from the Islamic State group, his employer said.
The accident occurred in the village of Tal Rabaa, near Daquq, about 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of Baghdad, said a senior officer with the Kurdish peshmerga forces in control of the area.
"This morning, at around 10:00 am local time (0700 GMT), an uncontrolled explosion has tragically killed the Australian supervisor of a team of 30 national deminers during ongoing operations," said his employer, the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD).

"The team was in the process of defusing explosive devices, which they detected in the former battle area," the Geneva-based FSD said in a statement, adding nobody else was injured.
"The deceased has been working in the area for six months already and was a very seasoned explosive and demining expert with several decades of experience in this technical field."
The organisation did not release his identity but many tributes were published on social media by friends and colleagues from the area.

The Australian authorities could not immediately be reached.
Daquq hosts a peshmerga base which has been a hub for foreign fighters wishing to volunteer with Kurdish forces in the fight against the Islamic State group.

A peshmerga brigadier general said the Australian national "had been working with the peshmerga to help them clear an area liberated from Daesh (IS) of bombs."
The jihadists were forced from Daquq in 2015 but landmines and unexploded ordnance remain in the area.