Mizzima.com/AFP-July 20
Myanmar junta troops are committing war crimes by laying landmines on a “massive scale” around villages where they are battling anti-coup fighters, rights campaign group Amnesty International said Wednesday. Fighting has ravaged swathes of the country since last year’s putsch, which sparked renewed clashes with ethnic rebel groups and the formation of dozens of “People’s Defense Forces” now battling the junta. During a visit to Kayah state near the Thai border, Amnesty researchers interviewed landmine survivors, medical workers who had treated them and others involved in clearing operations, the organization said. It said it had “credible information” that the military had used mines in at least 20 villages, including on paths to rice fields, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries.
Amnesty also said it had documented several instances where the military had laid mines around a church and on its grounds. “Soldiers have placed landmines in people’s yards, at the entrance of homes, and outside toilets,” Amnesty said. “In at least one documented case, soldiers booby-trapped a house stairwell with a trip-wire improvised explosive device.” “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,” said Rawya Rageh, the group’s senior crisis adviser. Read more at:
https://www.mizzima.com/article/myanmar-military-landmine-use-amounts-war-crimes-amnesty
