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Tripoli, 13 December:
Ordnance experts destroyed a Scud missile warhead near Sirte today after it had lain inactive for nearly 17 months.
The missile, thought to be Russian-made, was allegedly fired by forces loyal to Qaddafi during fighting in the area last year but failed to detonate.
A bomb disposal team from Handicap International (HI), an NGO that helps the vulnerable in conflict zones, moved the warhead from the village of Harawa, where it was discovered last month, to a secure location 21 km from Sirte and successfully disposed of it this afternoon.
Brendan Ramshaw, HI’s technical adviser in Sirte, said: “We first came and surveyed the missile from information gathered by our community liaison teams and at the time we were unsure whether it was safe to move, or if it should be destroyed in situ.”
However, after a survey of the missile, the group decided it was safe to move, and transported it to a secure location outside of Sirte to be blown up.
After the controlled explosion was successfully carried out, Sirte City Council presented the HI workers with a certificate of appreciation for their services in the region.
Ramshaw praised his team, saying: “People’s lives are made that bit safer with our teams on the ground every day, and it’s thanks to our local staff and support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands that we’re able to do it.”
Munitions left over from fighting last year is still a serious problem across Libya, and last month two officials from the Great Manmade River Project were killed when they stumbled across an unexploded device in the Hasawna area of southwest Libya. [/restrict]
