36 killed, over 70 injured in Chitwan landmine explosion
The unseen danger in NepalLandmines are explosive devices that are designed to explode when triggered by pressure or a tripwire. These devices are typically found on or just below the surface of the ground. The purpose of mines when used by armed forces is to disable any person or vehicle that comes into contact with it by an explosion of fragments released at high speeds.There is a severe dearth of information concerning this issue in Nepal. This website cites some of the few references on the subject. Please use our discussion board for any comments, questions, additional links or suggestions on how we may deal with this problem. |
 | |
 Nepal is not a party to any of the international instruments dealing with landmines. |
The Nepal branch of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines says the organisation has recorded around 500 deaths caused by landmines since the rebels took up arms in 1996. More than 100 of the victims were civilians and a quarter of them children. Of some 900 wounded, nearly one third were civilians. The group's co-ordinator in Nepal, Purna Shova Chitrakar, said the army had planted more than 10,000 landmines in different parts of the country. She said Maoist rebels frequently use improvised devices - but she could not say how many they have used. The Nepal branch of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines says that the rebels are increasingly using both factory and homemade mines and explosive devices against security personnel. Read More Here
| |
| Landmines are used by both the maoists and the army. Read about it in Nepali Times, November 2003
|
 Claymore Mine used by the army | |
More Landmine Links | And it's getting worse Ban Landmines Campaign, Nepal (NCBL), a Nepalese non-governmental organisation, estimates that more than 200 people are killed in Nepal every year due to landmine and Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) explosions with almost 1,100 people killed since 1998. The report notes that in the last six months 280 people have been killed and 676 others injured due to landmine/IED incidents. The types of device used have included victim-detonated mines, command-detonated mines and devices detonated by timer.
| |
 This is what happens in the Falklands Don't let it happen in Nepal! | A spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs told the NCBL's Landmine Monitor in 2002 that security forces used mines in all 75 districts of the country, and an RNA official told a joint NCBL/ICBL (International Campaign to Ban Landmines) that the army had used approximately 10,000 anti-personnel mines, mostly to defend some 50 army posts around the country from Maoist attacks. The spokesperson also said the army has used mines to ambush Maoist forces and planted them in fields around villages in the Maoist areas. The army told Landmine Monitor that they marked the sites with signs and barbed wire and removed mines when they left. Local villagers disputed the efficacy of some of these actions. A source described an RNA battalion position in the west as being constructed with a series of bunkers, trenches and watchtowers, along with low wire entanglements. These defences had POM-Z type mines and improvised claymore mines among them. |
