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A Dumfriesshire charity has played a key role in moves to destroy more than 1,000 landmines in Iraq.

The Thornhill-based HALO Trust has continued to send officials to battle the scourge of the deadly devices in the war-torn nation this year, despite the coronavirus crisis.

Workers from the demining charity, including Baghdad programme manager Frank Philip, have continued their bid to disarm the clandestine explosives.

The former army hero and his team have cleared 700 improvised devices and 400 unexploded grenades and mortars in the Middle Eastern state to reach a landmark tally since operations began in August 2018.

Charity workers also faced being caught up in Iranian missile strikes in Northern Iraq after the US drone strike assassination of General Qasem Soleimani last January.

Their efforts have been backed by the UK Government a key donor to the UN Mine Action Services demining efforts in Iraq, having provided 15.7million since 2018.

UK aid is supporting all three of HALOs demining projects in Anbar province in western Iraq.

Frank, from Montrose, said: 2020 has been an unusual year for us. We had a bad start with the Iranian-American tensions over the death of Major General Qasem Soleimani. Some of my guys actually drove past the burning vehicles, coming out of the airport after returning from their Christmas leave.

Wed been instructed not to go into Baghdad because the Iranians had vowed to respond so we made the decision to relocate to Erbil in the north. Of course, no sooner had we got here, than the Iranians launched their ballistic missile strikes against American bases in Anbar province and at Erbil airport, right beside where I am at the moment.

That wasnt expected and made for a fun start of the year for us. To be fair, I didnt even notice, but my daughter phoned me up in the middle of the night and told me Id been attacked.

While the threat of Iranian missile strikes and ISIS could not stop 61-year-old Franks team, coronavirus did.

He added: Covid restrictions have meant our operations have been a bit stop-start. All our operations were suspended when the Iraqi Government understandably put the country into lockdown. We kept people in place during the height of the pandemic so that when we did get the green light to go back to work in mid-June, we could do so with the minimum of delay.

He added: The standards of IED we are pulling out the ground are like a 20-litre jerry can with a fuse, a power source, and a switch, which is a pressure plate normally.

They are designed to make a big bang and if something that size detonates underneath you, theres only one result. Its not like anti-personnel mines that are designed to wound or maim.

These IEDs will remove all traces of you if they function and theres still a lot out there.

He said a high number of limbless people in Iraq is a direct result of the conflict over the last three decades.

The charity was founded in Afghanistan in 1988 and now removes mines and devices in 27 nations, while the UK Government has committed 272m in humanitarian support to Iraq since 2014.

Minister for the Middle East James Cleverly, praised the work of the charity, saying: Landmines are indiscriminate weapons of war that maim and kill innocent men, women and children. Their devastation lasts long after conflict has ended.

HALO Trust is a Scottish charity that is a world leader in demining. I am proud that the UK Government is working with it to help rid Iraq of these deadly explosives. committed to clearing landmines across the world, so no one has to live in fear of one wrong step.

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Thornhill-based HALO Trust destroys more than 1,000 landmines in Iraq since 2018 - Daily Record