Sanaa, Aug 9 (IANS): A total of 44 Yemeni people were killed by explosions caused by landmines and explosive devices in the first half of 2021, a government official said.

During the January-June period this year, 44 people were killed, including 11 children, and 57 others were injured, the official told Xinhua news agency.

He indicated that the majority of casualties and losses were recorded in the coastal areas located in the southern parts of the country's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

Previous reports of humanitarian organisations suggested that Yemen has become one of the largest landmine battlefields in the world since the World War II.

The Houthi militias have placed many of these landmines, often in busy areas containing hospitals and schools.

The Yemeni government believes that landmines are so widespread that it could take multiple decades to remove all of them.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern Yemeni provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government.