Myanmar accused of laying land mines

Myanmar’s military has been accused of planting land mines in the path of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in its western state of Rakhine, with Amnesty International reporting two people wounded Sunday.

Refugee accounts of the latest spasm of violence in Rakhine typically have described shootings by soldiers and arson attacks on villages. But there are at least several cases that point to land mines or other explosives as the cause of injuries on the border with Bangladesh, where 300,000 Rohingya have fled in the past two weeks.

AP reporters on the Bangladesh side of the border on Monday saw an elderly woman with devastating leg wounds: one leg with the calf apparently blown off and the other also badly injured.

Relatives said she had stepped on a land mine.

Myanmar has one of the few militaries, along with North Korea and Syria, which has openly used land mines in recent years, according to Amnesty.

An international treaty in 1997 outlawed the use of such weapons.

Lt. Col S.M. Ariful Islam, commanding officer of the Bangladesh border guard in Teknaf, said Friday he was aware of at least three Rohingya injured in explosions.

Bangladeshi officials and Amnesty researchers believe new explosives have been planted recently, including one that the rights group said blew off a Bangladeshi farmer’s leg and another that wounded a Rohingya man. Both incidents occurred Sunday. It said at least three people including two children were injured in the past week.

“It may not be land mines, but I know there have been isolated cases of Myanmar soldiers planting explosives three to four days ago,” Ariful said Friday.