Yahoo News

US ‘uses landmines for first time since Gulf War’

The US appears to have scattered landmines on an Iranian village in what would be the first American use of the controversial weapons for decades.

Gator scatterable mines can be seen in images taken from Kafari, a settlement around 12 miles from the southern city of Shiraz, which is close to several Iranian missile depots.

The story was first reported by Bellingcat.

BLU-91 mines are dropped by aircraft and explode when they sense magnetic signatures, such as those belonging to a large vehicle. They may have been dropped to block mobile launchers transporting missiles into firing positions.

The weapons are often deployed alongside BLU-92 anti-personnel mines, but there is no imagery to suggest use of the latter.