Consistently, since January of 2022, antipersonnel landmines manufactured by the Myanmar Army, have been found in photographic images among captured weapons from the Myanmar Armed Forces. 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 December 2022)
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 the 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.
Since January 2022, in a non-exhaustive review of media photographs by Mine Free Myanmar, over 35 instances, amounting to hundreds of antipersonnel landmines, types MM1 (fragmentation), MM2 (blast), MM5 (directional) and MM6 (non-detectable blast), in Bago, Chin, Kayah, Kayin, Rakhine and Shan States and the Sagaing and Thanintharyi Regions.
The photographic reports of antipersonnel landmines seized, were captured by Ethnic Armed Organizations, or National Unity Government affiliated People’s Defence Forces. Most were obtained in military actions overrunning Myanmar Armed Forces outposts or after capturing/ambushing a Myanmar Armed Forces patrol. [photo right, box of MM6 (M-14) antipersonnel landmines captured by a PDF in Yinmarbin township in Sagaing Region in February 2023]
