Four people were killed and five others injured by landmines in areas controlled by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Shan State in the first 35 days of 2025.
There were a significant number of casualties caused by landmines and unexploded ordnance left after fighting in the TNLA-controlled towns of Momeik (Mongmit), Thibaw (Hsipaw), and Kutkai in northern Shan State and nearby TNLA controlled villages between 1 and 4 January 2025.
A Thibaw Town resident said: “All the landmine and ordnance explosions are happening on former battlefields. If it’s possible, I would like the organisation controlling the area or the relevant authorities to carry out demining. Right now, it's us civilians who are suffering.”
He added that two of the four people killed by landmines were children and some of the injured suffered serious injuries to their limbs.
The two children were killed and two more children were injured in a single incident when one of them trod on a landmine whilst they were out fishing in Namhseng Village near Kutkai Town on 1 February.
A Kutkai resident said to Shan Herald: “There have already been many deaths and injuries from landmines early this year. Just recently on 1 February, four children were fishing in a village near Kutkai when they stepped on a landmine, killing two and injuring the other two. The lack of effective demining is costing children their lives at such a young age.”
In Thibaw Town two people were killed after stepping on a landmine on 25 January.
In Momeik Town a man clearing his yard was seriously injured when an unexploded artillery shell blew up on the afternoon of 28 January.
Also in Namhwe Village, which is in the TNLA controlled township of Muse in northern Shan State, a man lost both his legs when he stepped on a landmine when he went to cut sugar cane on 30 January.
Local communities have accused both the junta and the Three Brotherhood Alliance, which includes the TNLA, of failing to take responsibility for clearing unexploded ordnance and landmines left behind after fighting that was part of the Three Brotherhood Alliance’s Operation 1027 offensive in northern Shan State.
