Gwa Twsp residents grapple with new landmine-risk realities

By Admin 08 Jul 2024

DMG Newsroom
8 July 2024, Gwa

A resident of Kyeintali Town lost one of his legs from the knee down after stepping on a landmine while foraging for vegetables on Sunday, the latest in a growing number of landmine-related casualties in Arakan State’s Gwa Township.

The victim has been identified as Ko Maung Phyu from Yar Pyae Ward. “He is receiving treatment at Sup Thwar cottage hospital,” said a resident.

Another Kyeintali resident was badly injured in a landmine blast on July 3 while he too was searching for vegetables.

More consequentially, a man in his 50s from Gwa Township’s Yahai Kwin Village was recently killed when he stepped on a landmine while cutting firewood.

Civilian casualties are being reported with increasing frequency since late last month as Myanmar’s military regime has been accused of planting landmines in many locations including forests, roadsides, and around towns, villages, and battalions’ headquarters.

Forests and often-adjacent mountainous terrain provide the primary sources of livelihood for the majority of Gwa residents. The growing risk of landmines now poses a challenge to their livelihoods, noted a Kyeintali resident.

“Many residents here are manual workers. They make a living by searching for vegetables and bamboo-shoots during the wet season. As the military has planted landmines, residents dare not go to forests to search for food,” he said.

Myanmar’s military regime has tightened security in Gwa Township amid an Arakkha Army (AA) onslaught on the townships of southern Arakan State in recent months.