Two people have been injured by landmine blasts within this month in Kyaung Shar Kwin, which is an area of territorial dispute between the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Karen National Union (KNU) near Ah Lel Sa Khan Village under Yebyu Township, Tanintharyi Region.
Min Mon Chan, also known as Ah Ba Lai, age 30, (father – Nai Win), a betel plantation worker who is a native of Han Gan Village in southern Ye Township, stepped on a landmine at the entrance of a plantation on Kyaung Shar Kwin Road yesterday morning and his right foot was shattered as a result according to Ah Lel Sa Khan Village Administrator Nai Tin San, also known as Nai A Yan.
“The patient has been sent to Ye Hospital. It’s not life threatening but he lost his right foot. The plantation workers are afraid to go to the plantations. Other people are going to come and pick the seasonal fruits,” he said to the Mon News Agency.
The NMSP soldier Mon Chan Naing (age 25), was also injured after stepping on a landmine in Kyaung Shar Kwin area on October 15 while he was patrolling the area and his left leg has been amputated from above the ankle at the Bangkok Hospital in Thailand, according to the NMSP.
“There’s only our ally, the KNU, in this area. It’s the area where our Mon residents work in plantations. We can only believe that the landmines [have been planted by] the KNU. We, the NMSP, haven’t used landmines for a long time now,” the NMSP official from Dawei District said on condition of anonymity.
Ah Lel Sa Khan Village Administration has reported to respective government departments after the KNU physically assaulted three plantation workers with rifle butts and knife blades in Kyaung Shar Kwin on October 8.
The NMSP Dawei District Battalion 2 and the KNU Battalion 10 under Brigade 4 are active in Yebyu Township and four skirmishes broke out between the troops under the KNU and the NMSP in Kyaung Shar Kwin area in 2016.
