Leftover landmines in Syria's Raqa kill 14: spokesman

Explosions of ordnance left in the ruins of Raqa have killed 14 people in the week since the Syrian city was retaken from the Islamic State group, a spokesman said today.
"At the end of last week, nine civilians were killed," Mustefa Bali, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that retook the former jihadist bastion, told AFP.
The US-backed force has banned access to the devastated northern Syrian city to displaced residents wanting to return but Bali said that "unfortunately some civilians are managing to slip back in."
He did not specify in how many blasts the nine were killed but said they had returned to assess the condition of their homes.

Raqa, IS's main Syrian hub, was retaken after a more than four-month-old operation and suffered extensive damage. Planting booby traps in homes and roadside bombs was the centrepiece of IS's defence system.
Bali said the mine-clearing effort only started officially today and added that five other people had already been killed in the ordnance disposal process.

"Five people were killed, three fighters and two technicians," he said.
The technicians were civilians working with a Syrian Kurdish organisation specialised in ordnance disposal.
The United Nations reacted to the civilian deaths today by expressing concern for displaced residents they said might be tempted by the dire conditions in displacement camps to return to Raqa prematurely.

"The UN is concerned for the safety and protection of civilians at risk of death and injury from unexploded ordnances reportedly planted throughout Raqa city neighbourhoods," a statement from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.