Russian deminers comb Palmyra for bombs

Palmyra - It has been just over 10 days since the Syrian forces backed by Russian firepower wrested Palmyra from the Daesh group.

Russian army sappers in bulky protective suits slowly sweep their mine detectors through the ancient ruins of the Syrian world heritage site of Palmyra following its recapture from militants.
Just over a kilometre away a sudden explosion sends a cloud of smoke and dust into the air as experts working in a specially dug blast pit detonate the latest abandoned ammunition or booby trapped ordnance they have found.
It has been just over 10 days since the Syrian forces backed by Russian firepower wrested Palmyra from the Daesh group, which had blown up some of the monuments and staged executions in the Roman amphitheatre.
Now begins the painstaking job of clearing the historic location and neighbouring modern town - scarred by heavy fighting - of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and material left behind.
"Mine-clearance is a tough job wherever you do it and my main concern is that my men stay safe," demining group leader Alexei Makarenko said, during a visit for journalists organised by the Russian defence ministry.
In around two days of working among the Roman columns and sand of Palmyra, the Russian team of around 100 sappers and support staff say they have checked around 20 hectares of an area of 234 hectares.
Commander Makarenko says so far at the site they have been finding shells and grenades rather than home-made devices. He estimates it will take a month to scour the whole area and says that the increasing temperatures of the Syrian desert are already proving tough to deal with. "We have already had two sappers collapse because of the heat," he says.
In the adjoining modern town - which once had a population of around 70,000 - Daesh fighters appear to have spent more time laying an array of traps for the attacking forces.
One of the main roads through the town is pockmarked with craters where Russian sappers have dug up or exploded bombs hidden under freshly laid strips of tarmac.

Team of 100 sappers working to clear the area
> Russian army sappers carefully sweep the ancient town to clear it of mines left by the Daesh group.
> A team of around 100 Russian sappers and support staff is involved in the exercise.
> The team has checked 20 hectares of an area of 234 hectares in about 2 days.
> So far the team has found shells and grenades rather than home-made devices at the site.

• MENA