2 injured in Muse landmines explosion
Two people – a Burmese army
officer and a firefighter – were reported injured after a landmine exploded on
Thursday in northern Shan State’s Muse Township, an important
border crossing for trade between Burma and China.
Sai Hin Lek, a local resident in Muse, said that the incident
took place in Bok Mai, Jelant tract, as a bomb disposal
team from Burmese Army Division 33 was working on a landmine clearance program.
The ordnance devices were
found by local villagers who had gone to hunt for wild food in the forest near
Bok Mai, he said. They then informed the village headman, who reported it to
the local military unit.
“Two people got injured
– a Burmese army officer and a firefighter – and a truck was slightly damaged,”
he said. “Fireman Sai Yi Song Kham was wounded on his right leg.
“Five mines exploded
while the bomb disposal team were trying to clear them,” he said. “Another one
went off this morning.”
He added that, to date,
the soldiers had only been able to remove three devices.
Locals in the area say
they suspect the mines were remote-controlled devices.
At the time
of reporting, no further information had
been provided by local authorities about the blast.
Last year, The
Myanmar Times reported that on 24 August 2015 an individual on a motorbike threw a
bomb at a local bank in Muse Township. Local ethnic armed groups were accused
of involvement.
According to
the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), a non-governmental organization active in some 100 countries around the globe, Burma is the third-worst
country in the world for annual landmine casualties.
Between 1999
and the end of 2014, landmines had affected
3,745 people: 396 killed; 3,145 injured; and 204 unknown, according to an ICBL report
on 25 November 2015.However, it noted that the real figure could be much
higher.
The ICBL said
that state-owned Myanmar Defence Products Industries still produces landmines at
a facility in Nyaung Chay Dauk, Bago Region.
Several ethnic
armed groups are also believed to still produce or use landmines.
By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)
Tags: General, News
