IDF soldier wounded by landmine
Air force soldier wounded during patrol near Eilat. Southern Command investigating incident
The soldier, who serves on an air force base in the south, was on a routine security patrol. An ongoing investigation indicates that he accidentally entered a field containing IDF landmines.
According to IDF sources, because of the base's location, minefields were placed around it in the 60s for operational reasons.
Injured soldier (Photo: Herzl Yosef)
The IDF's Southern Command decided that a colonel-led committee would undertake a formal investigation, in order to understand the circumstances surrounding the incident and to determine whether the soldier failed to comply with security regulations, which restrict movement in the area.
One possible scenario is that the soldier, who has not been on base for long, was unaware of the minefield threat in the area because he was not properly briefed upon arrival at the base. Another possible scenario is that certain minefields may have moved because of recent floods in the area.
The IDF has strict security regulations regarding entry into minefields. In August 2006, an infantry soldier was killed and his friends injured when they navigating incorrectly along the northern border and entered a minefield placed by the military several years prior.
Previous cases in which soldiers were hurt and equipment damaged as result of landmine explosions occurred during the second Lebanon war as well.
A tank caravan from the 847 reserve unit ran into a mislabeled landmine field, and sustained sever damage to two tanks. A soldier in the engineering corps lost his leg when he ran into a landmine in the eastern sector last summer.
