Myanmar’s Landmine Crisis Claims Record Lives as Conflict Zones Become Treacherous Terrain]

In 2025, Myanmar recorded as many as 2,029 landmine casualties—the highest global count—with incidents nearly doubling from the previous year, according to Landmine Monitor. The ongoing conflict has transformed large swaths of the country into deadly landscapes, leaving communities trapped between military offensives and improvised explosive devices.

The surge in casualties reflects a troubling evolution in the decade-long use of antipersonnel mines by Myanmar’s military, which has expanded tactics since the February 2021 coup. While state forces historically deployed mines around military installations, they now regularly seed jungles, agricultural fields, and villages during strategic withdrawals to impede resistance advances.

Adding to the crisis, non-state armed resistance groups have increasingly adopted landmines in recent years—a shift flagged by Landmine Monitor. The resulting humanitarian toll disproportionately affects civilians and children, with UNICEF reporting that over 20 percent of 1,052 verified casualties in 2023 were minors—a sharp escalation from 390 documented incidents in 2022.

Rakhine State remains among the hardest-hit regions, recording the second-highest number of landmine casualties nationwide in 2025 with 117 victims. Between January 29 and March 4, The Diplomat spoke with 16 survivors in Chin and Rakhine States to document the personal and societal wreckage left behind by an escalating ordnance epidemic.

Source link