Myanmar Junta Ramps Up Landmine Use
CISR
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(Human Rights Watch) From February 2021 to September 2022, 157 civilians were killed and 395 injured by landmines and explosive remnants of war in Myanmar. About one-third of the casualties were children. The military has placed landmines in homes, village pathways, church compounds, and farms. Military units have continued to force civilians to act as “human shields,” walking ahead of troops to detonate any mines.
In August, as fighting spread across Rakhine State, the ethnic armed group Arakan Army located dozens of military-manufactured mines. Casualties are rising from landmines laid along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, where civilians like Tanchangya collect firewood, farm, and graze cattle. Witnesses reported activity by Myanmar soldiers near border posts in the days before recent mine blasts.