Landmines Kill One, Injure Four Civilians in Kachin State's Waingmaw This Year

Landmines have killed or injured five civilians in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State, so far this year, according to local social aid organizations. Between January and August 2026, one man was killed, and four others were injured in landmine detonations across the township. All five victims were middle-aged men. In August, a man stepped on a landmine in Wuyang Village, lost his leg, and later succumbed to his injuries. On June 19, another man was injured by a landmine while foraging for bamboo shoots in a forest near Mading Village. Earlier, on January 27, a resident lost his left leg in a separate landmine blast in Wuyang Village. Two additional landmine incidents were recorded during the same eight-month period. Community aid workers identified Wuyang, Mading, Nawnghee, Sankar, and Khatcho as the villages facing the highest threat from both landmines and indiscriminate junta artillery fire. “During bamboo shoot harvesting season, people must exercise extreme caution,” a local aid worker warned. “Landmines are planted all around Khatcho, Nawnghee, and Sankar, not just Wuyang. Civilians continue to be mutilated and injured.” In May of last year, a 10-year-old child was killed, and two men were severely wounded in separate landmine blasts and artillery attacks in Waingmaw. Tensions remain high across Waingmaw Township, where the military junta and a coalition led by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) frequently exchange heavy artillery fire. Civilians bear the brunt of the conflict, facing constant danger from landmines laid by combatants. Human rights advocate Dr. Langa Ja Seng Ing—founder of the FoRB Network Myanmar, a civil society coalition monitoring religious freedom and human rights abuses—emphasized that deploying weapons that cause indiscriminate civilian harm violates international humanitarian law (IHL). “Planting landmines in farmlands and along roads used daily by civilians is a sinister tactic,” Dr. Langa Ja Seng Ing said. “Because landmines injure combatants and non-combatants indiscriminately, using them constitutes a clear breach of international law prohibiting banned weapons.” According to UNICEF Myanmar, landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) killed 28 civilians and injured 225 others nationwide between January and March 2026 alone, with children accounting for 74 of the casualties.