The Tajik Center for Land Mine Problems (TTMV) issued a press release on 13 December stating that 1,800 antipersonnel land mines and unexploded projectiles (approximately 10 percent of all mines in the country)  were successfully deactivated in Tajikistan in 2005, vesti.uz reported. The press release stated that during the year, 17 people died and another seven sustained injuries due to land-mine accidents. TTMV coordinator Parviz Mavlonkulov was quoted as saying that despite all efforts to remove the devices, “land mines continue to tragically kill and maim Tajik people.” The majority of accidents occurred in the Soghd region on the Tajik-Uzbek border, where mines were laid by Uzbek authorities, he said. According to vesti.uz, the Uzbek government laid the deadly devices in an effort to prevent hostilities from spilling over into Uzbekistan during Tajikistan’s bloody civil war. (www.vesti.uz, December 14)