BANDARBAN: In the dense hill forests along Bangladesh&#39;s border with war-torn Myanmar, villagers are losing limbs to landmines, casualties of a conflict not of their making.&nbsp;Ali Hossain, 40, was collecting firewood in early 2025 when a blast shattered his life.&nbsp;&quot;I went into the jungle with fellow villagers. Suddenly, there was an explosion, and my leg was blown off,&quot; he told AFP. &quot;I screamed at the top of my voice.&quot;&nbsp;Neighbors rushed to stem the spurting blood.&nbsp;&quot;They picked me up, gathered my severed leg, and took me to the hospital,&quot; he said.&nbsp;In Ashartoli, a small settlement in Bandarban district &mdash; the village name translates as &quot;haven of hope&quot; &mdash; the weapons of a foreign war have turned forests, farms and footpaths deadly.&nbsp;Bangladesh&#39;s 271-kilometer (168-mile) eastern border with Myanmar cuts through forests, much of it unmarked, as well as rivers.&nbsp;It is crossed daily by villagers, as their families have done for generations, for collecting firewood or small-time trading.&nbsp;Surgeons chopped Hossain&#39;s leg off above the knee.&nbsp;&quot;My wife had to carry me on her back,&quot; he said, gesturing towards the steep hillside around his home, as he recalled the months after the blast.&nbsp;A year later, Hossain walks with an artificial leg and a crutch, but he cannot return to his job on a rubber plantation.&nbsp;Needing 300 taka ($2.50) a day for medicine, his two young sons now take on his former dangerous task, collecting firewood after school.&nbsp;&#39;My whole life&#39;Similar stories echo across the border region.&nbsp;&quot;My father and forefathers collected wood from the jungle,&quot; said Mohammad Abu Taleb, 47. &quot;I learned no other trade.&quot;&nbsp;He crossed unwittingly into Myanmar.&nbsp;&quot;I stepped on a pile of dry leaves, and there was an explosion,&quot; he said, leaning on a crutch. &quot;It took away my whole life.&quot;&nbsp;His 10-year-old son has since dropped out of school to help support the family.&nbsp;Taleb said trips to repair his artificial leg and attend medical checkups cost around US$80 &mdash; an impossible burden for a family struggling to survive.&nbsp;Nurul Amin, 23, lost his leg while attempting to bring a cow across the border, a memory blurred by pain.&nbsp;&quot;They carried me on their shoulders to the hospital,&quot; he recalls, saying he was more worried that his monthly income had now fallen to around $25-$30.&nbsp;&quot;That&#39;s not enough for a family,&quot; he said. &quot;I have no other way to survive.&quot;&nbsp;&#39;Cruelty&#39;Myanmar is the world&#39;s most dangerous country for landmine casualties, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which has detailed the &quot;massive&quot; and growing use of the weapons, banned by many countries.&nbsp;It recorded more than 2,000 casualties in Myanmar in 2024, the latest full statistics available &mdash; double the total reported the year before.&nbsp;&quot;The use of mines appeared to significantly increase in 2024-2025,&quot; it said in its Landmine Monitor report, highlighting &quot;an increase in the number of mine victims, particularly near the border&quot; with Bangladesh.&nbsp;Bangladesh accuses Myanmar&#39;s military and rival armed forces of planting the mines.&nbsp;Guerrilla Arakan Army fighters &mdash; one of the many factions challenging the junta&#39;s rule &mdash; control swathes of jungle across the border with Myanmar.&nbsp;More than a million Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar also live in Bangladesh&#39;s border regions &mdash; caught between the warring military and separatist groups.&nbsp;Bangladesh police say that at least 28 people were injured by landmines in 2025.&nbsp;In November, a Bangladesh border guard was killed when a landmine tore off both his legs.&nbsp;&quot;This cruelty cannot be legitimised,&quot; said Lieutenant Colonel Kafil Uddin Kayes, a local Border Guard Bangladesh commander.&nbsp;Bangladesh&#39;s border force has put up warning signs and red flags and conducts regular mine-sweeping operations.&nbsp;But villagers say warnings offer little protection when survival depends on entering forests seeded with explosives, leaving communities in Bangladesh to pay the price of war.&nbsp;&quot;The population is increasing, and people are moving closer to the border, as we have farmlands there,&quot; said 42-year-old farmer Dudu Mia.&nbsp;&quot;Planting landmines cannot be the solution. It can&#39;t go on like this.&quot;

Bangladesh

Weapons from Myanmar’s conflict spill into Bangladesh, leaving civilians maimed and impoverished.

Articles tagged with "Bangladesh-Myanmar border"

Landmines destroy limbs and lives on Bangladesh-Myanmar border