"Boom" near the Zaitoon Division

Korea`s Zaitoon Division, which is currently stationed in Arbil, a self-governing zone of the Kurds in northern Iraq, started to investigate into the cause of an unidentified detonation near its base. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

The Defense Ministry`s public information officer, Nam Dae-yeon, said yesterday, "Hearing an explosion at 2:37 p.m. on October 27 (local time), the patrol looked at the area of the detonation, which was 800 meters away from the camp`s outer block, left to the main gate, and saw flames and smoke arising."

Officer Nam added, "The incident killed 24 sheep, which the Kurd residents were herding."

A military authority presumed, "The explosion was more likely to be caused by a land mine or a dud shell rather than by terrorist attacks."

Ho-Gab Lee gdt@donga.com