Myanmar has laid landmines near border, claims angry Bangladesh

Bangladesh on Wednesday summoned the Myanmar ambassador to protest the planting of landmines along their common border after a series of explosions maimed Rohingya fleeing violence in the country.

This is the second time Dhaka has summoned the ambassador since an upsurge in violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state triggered a refugee crisis, with nearly 150,000 people flooding across the border in the last 12 days.

During the meeting, Bangladesh officials “expressed concern at the reported laying down of anti-personnel land mine(s) close to the... border by Myanmar security forces”, a statement from the foreign ministry in Dhaka said.

Bangladeshi border guards have said they heard large explosions this week and seen refugees with injuries they say were caused by landmines.

A Myanmar military source said landmines were laid along the border in the 1990s to prevent trespassing and the military had since tried to remove them. But none had been planted recently.

Two Bangladeshi sources told Reuters they believed Myanmar security forces were putting the landmines in their territory along the barbed-wire fence between a series of border pillars.

One senior official in Bangladesh said Dhaka believed Myanmar government forces were planting the landmines to stop the Rohingya returning to their villages.

Myanmar, which was under military rule until recently and is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, is one of the few countries that have not signed the 1997 UN Mine Ban Treaty.