Minister of the Interior Davor Bozinovic attended a ceremony in Zadar on Friday marking the completion of mine clearance activities in Zadar County.

Zadar County head Bozidar Longin was presented on that occasion with a certificate showing that the county is no longer among areas suspected of being infested with mines while Civil Protection Directorate head Damir Trut held a presentation on the mine removal project in Zadar County.

Thirty-five people were killed in Zadar County by mines left over from the 1991-95 war.

“There were more than 18,000 infantry and tank mines on 680 fields in the county and a large number of houses and commercial facilities and infrastructure were in areas suspected of being mine-infested, which slowed down economic growth and posed a threat to local residents who were unable to return to their homes,” Longin said.

Mine removal a priority that is systematically invested in

Minister Bozinovic said that mine removal was one of the priorities in the field of security and that it was systematically invested in.

“The success is visible. The implementation of our original plan has made us globally recognizable and has even won us a leader status in mine action and humanitarian de-mining. Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Syria have asked for our help and expertise. Mine action in Croatia is still very topical, mines still pose a real threat to the full normalisation of life in seven counties, where there are still 15,000 mines on an area of 208 square kilometres,” he said.

Around seven billion kuna has been spent on mine removal so far and 204 people have been killed in mine-related accidents, with the latest case happening in Karlovac County in March this year.