Iraqis wounded by Cyprus landmine

Hundreds of migrants try to cross from north to south every year

Five Iraqis have been injured by a landmine while trying to cross the UN-patrolled border dividing northern Cyprus from the rest of the island.

The island is split between the breakaway Turkish-Cypriot north and the Greek south.

The five, including a child, were in a group thought to have been smuggled to the island to claim political asylum.

As a member of the EU, Cyprus attracts a high number of asylum seekers from outside Europe.

Correspondents say that, while hundreds of migrants try to cross from north to south every year, injuries caused by landmines are rare.

Smuggled

The five injured Iraqis were abandoned at a hospital in the Cypriot town of Larnaca, according to the Reuters news agency.

A four-year-old child was in the group that stepped on an anti-personnel mine. She was not seriously hurt.

Landmines remain in a number of areas along the 116-mile (180km) "green line" which has divided Cyprus since 1974.

Another 13 immigrants were picked up in Larnaca.

Police told the AFP news agency they suspected the group had been smuggled via Syria to Turkey, and flown into northern Cyprus, from where they were then taken across the line-of-control.

Cyprus has long-complained to the EU that more help is needed in policing the border between its north and south.

It has one of the highest number of asylum applications in the industrial world in proportion to its population.