Written question asked by Richard Younger-Ross (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 9 July 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 16 September 2003. It was answered by Adam Ingram (Labour) on Tuesday, 16 September 2003 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what percentage of British unexploded munitions in Iraq have been cleared; and when this work will be completed.

Answer: Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of British unexploded munitions in Iraq have been cleared; and when this work will be completed. [125698] Mr. Ingram: United Kingdom and other coalition armed forces and non-Governmental organisation teams have been engaged in explosive ordnance disposal tasks since before the end of the conflict in Iraq. It is not yet possible to say either what percentage of British unexploded munitions have been cleared or when all the work will be completed. To date, UK and other coalition explosive ordnance disposal teams in the UK area of operation have completed over 1,500 tasks and destroyed over 500,000 individual munitions. Those munitions include not only those dropped or fired by coalition forces, but also many from the Iraq-Iran war as well as mines laid, ordnance fired or dropped, and stores of ammunition and other ordnance left by Iraqi military and paramilitary forces.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 125698; 410 c706W;410 c704W
Session: 2002-03
Subjects: Ammunition Armed forces Armed conflict Deployment Bombs Bomb disposal Iraq Weapons Iraq conflict
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk