Civilian Injured by Landmine in Tanintharyi
The man is the second victim in Yay Phyu Township in October.
By NETWORK MEDIA GROUP (NMG)
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
A man who stepped on a landmine in Tanintharyi Region’s Yay Phyu Township is the second person to be injured by an explosive device in the area this month.
Thirty-year-old Min Chan Mon—also known as Abah Hlaine—stepped on a landmine on October 28 at around 11 a.m. on a road while going to his areca palm garden. The incident happened near Ahlae Sakhan village, where Min Chan Mon lives. According to the victim’s brother, he has been hospitalized in the Mawlamyine public hospital.
“The doctor says his right leg must be cut off. His left leg was less injured than his right leg,” the brother, Nai Rein, told NMG. He added that the family has been cultivating areca palms in the area for more than 10 years and had never before encountered a landmine.
According to the New Mon State Party (NMSP), an NMSP soldier endured serious injuries to his left leg on October 15 when he stepped on a landmine while on patrol in Yay Phyu. He has since had the leg amputated and has been hospitalized in Bangkok, Thailand.
NMSP said that the landmines were not planted by them, and that the group has not used such explosives since signing a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the government more than 20 years ago.
“Even though we haven’t signed an agreement to not use landmines, we haven’t used landmines since 1995. If we really needed to use them, we would have to inform the local people. It has to be limited to a period of 10 days or two weeks, and after that we would have to remove the mines,” NMSP central committee member Nai Hongsa Von Khai said.
Yay Phyu Township has been patrolled by the NMSP, the Karen National Union (KNU), and the Burmese military.
The NMSP and the KNU had a dispute over territory in Yay Phyu in 2016 and 2017. At that time, the two forces clashed at least six times in the area.
