As of early December 2022, antipersonnel landmines manufactured by the Myanmar Army, have been found in photographic images among captured weapons from the Myanmar Armed Forces during every month so far since January 2022. This represents a significant increase when compared to any previous year.
Images of mines captured from Myanmar Armed Forces troops have been posted from virtually every State and Region of the country (see previous post in Mine Free Myanmar)
Previously, Myanmar government officials have acknowledged ongoing landmine use by the country’s Armed Forces. In July 2019, an official at the Union Minister Office for Defence told Landmine Monitor that landmines are still used by the Myanmar Armed Forces in border areas and around infrastructure.Also previously the Deputy Minister of Defence, Major General Myint Nwe, told the Myanmar parliament that the army continues to use landmines in internal armed conflicts.
Between January and December 2022, in a non-exhaustive survey of media photographs by Mine Free Myanmar, over 28 instances, amounting to hundreds of antipersonnel landmines, types MM1 (fragmentation), MM2 (blast), MM5 (directional) and MM6 (non-detectable blast), in Chin, Kayah, Kayin, Rakhine and Shan States and the Sagaing and Thanintharyi Regions.
The antipersonnel landmines were captured by Ethnic Armed Organizations or National Unity Government affiliated People’s Defence Forces in those areas after overrunning Myanmar Armed Forces outposts or after capturing/ambushing a Myanmar Armed Forces patrol.
