Mother of five injured by landmine near Paletwa

(Photo: Paletwa town from Google Map)

14 January 2021 – A landmine laid in a jungle near Paletwa town, Chin State left Daw Toe Toe Win, mother of five children, her left leg seriously injured on Tuesday.

The 38-year-old mother stepped on the landmine in the afternoon while she was collecting bamboos in the east of Kaladan river.

The Khumi Media Group quoted a local woman as saying that there had been restrictions on movement for months because of conflicts and COVID-19 pandemic but people sometimes had to get out to find food and other needs.

Daw Toe Toe Win is the wife of a Tatmadaw soldier currently stationed at the Light Infantry Battalion 289 in Paletwa.

Local sources confirmed that the victim has been treated at a military hospital but might be transferred to a hospital in Sittwe, Rakhine State.

Since 2015 when the conflict between Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army broke out in Paletwa Township, over 20 landmine-related cases have been recorded, according to the local sources.

The Chin Human Rights Organization said that they had documented landmine-related cases of 9 injuries and 7 deaths in the southern township since the start of the ongoing conflicts. – Chinland Guardian