Marc Mondala
Explosives experts from Janus Global Operations have cleared a grain processing facility in Tal Afar, Iraq, months after the Iraqi Army drove out Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fighters from the area.
The company said Wednesday its teams found and deactivated more than 70 improvised explosive devices, rockets, grenades, mortar and other weapons, and cleared more than 192,000 square meters of dangerous materials at the Tal Afar Grain Silo complex.
Around 90 metric tons of debris from destroyed buildings were also cleared.
Tal Afar, which lies near the Iraqi-Syrian border in northwestern Iraq, fell under ISIS control in June 2014. The Iraqi Army liberated Tal Afar on Aug. 31, 2017 after an 11-day siege.
Janus began the clearance operation on Feb. 11, on behalf of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, to allow repairs to be made to the facility.
The grain silo, which once provided food to some 250,000 people in the area, is expected to employ some 50 workers when it opens.
