‘The junta is heartless’: Landmine victims blame Myanmar military

Chiang Mai, Thailand – Three months after she was forced to flee her village in Kayah State to avoid an attack by the Myanmar military, Say Myar decided to return to retrieve a supply of rice she had left behind. “The military’s depraved use of landmines in homes and villages will continue to have devastating effects on civilians in Kayah State for years to come,” Rawya Rageh, senior crisis adviser at Amnesty International, said in a report from July. “We know from bitter experience that civilian deaths and injuries will mount over time, and the widespread contamination is already blocking people from returning to their homes and farmland.” Amnesty said Myanmar’s military commonly manufactures and uses M-14 landmines, which can blow a victim’s foot off at the ankle, and the more powerful MM-2s, which can take off a person’s leg at the knee. Anthony Davis, a security analyst at leading defence and open-source intelligence group Janes, said the Myanmar military typically uses “factory-produced antipersonnel mines”, which it has been deploying in ever greater numbers to protect strategic sites such as military bases and police stations. Local media abounds with reports of resistance groups — broadly known as People’s Defence Forces — also using “landmines” against the Myanmar military, although these are typically improvised explosive devices rather than factory-produced mines.