Background Iranian civilians living in border areas are still victims of un-neutralised war mines. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess demographic characteristics and features associated with the incident in a representative group of victims.

Materials and Methods Overall, 300 civilian mine victims in Kurdistan Province western Iran during 1991–2005 through a cluster randomised sampling method were recruited. The documentary data for those who lost their lives was gathered from the archives of local police, Red Crescent and War-disabled Organisation. Other survived mine-injured victims were interviewed for data collection using a validated checklist. SPSS was used for all analyses.

Results Overall, 17.7% of victims (n=53) have been killed immediately after explosion and 82.3% (n=247) were injured. Of those survived, 40% (n=99) had an amputation surgery of lower limb in particular. Majority of victims were either farmers, shepherd mans, or children. Among risk factors investigated, victims' job and age were significantly correlated with mine accidents in Kurdistan province after adjusting for other factors including gender, education level and socioeconomic status (Adjusted OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.2, p<0.01 and AOR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.5, p=0.04 respectively).

Conclusions Young civilians living in border areas between Iran and Iraq with certain jobs are still affected by un-neutralised war mines despite the grate efforts made by the government. Struggling efforts are required to avoid and minimise the adverse effects of mine expulsions in border areas in west of country and in Kurdistan in particular.