ZAGREB, September 3, 2008 (AFP) - A deminer was killed in Croatia on Wednesday in a zone suspected of being littered with land mines dating from the country's 1991-1995 independence war, police said.

The accident occurred near the eastern town of Vinkovci while the 41-year-old land mine clearer was working in a farming area, police said without elaborating.

Almost 1,000 square kilometres (425 square miles), or 1.76 percent of Croatia's territory, remain infested with an estimated 250,000 land mines.

Between 1991 and 2007, some 470 people were killed by land mines and more than 1,400 injured, according to the Croatian Mine Action Centre, the national demining body.

Croatia has pledged to clear its territory of land mines by 2009, but the job is expected to take around 30 years.