September 14, 2002	Saturday	Rajab 6, 1423

NEW YORK, Sept 13: The widespread use of anti-personnel landmines by nations such as Pakistan and India is hampering efforts to eliminate a weapon that kills or maims thousands of people every year, campaigners said on Friday.

India and Pakistan have laid large numbers of such mines along their common border since coming close to war over Kashmir last year, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines said in a report.

Landmines are also widely used by Myanmar, by Russia in Chechnya, and on a smaller scale in Nepal, Somalia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia, the Landmine Monitor Report 2002 said.

The United Nations estimates that landmines still kill about 10,000 people a year around the world, and activists said the devices injure about another 10,000, often requiring the amputation of limbs.

The report was issued before the start of a week of talks in Geneva on Monday to review the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.—Reuters