By Nway / MPA
A seven-year-old boy has been killed and three other children injured after stepping on a landmine while playing in northern Myanmar, a tragedy that coincided with the country’s national Children’s Day.
The explosion occurred at approximately 09:00 local time on 13 February in Taung Pyo, a village in Kachin State’s Hpakant Township that has previously seen heavy combat.
According to local reports, the four children were playing in the village when they triggered an explosive device left by the side of the road.
“The children were playing when they likely stepped on a tripwire mine,” a local military affairs source in Hpakant told the Myanmar Pressphoto Agency (MPA). “One child died at the scene. Two suffered severe injuries, and the fourth sustained only minor, non-life-threatening wounds.”
The source noted that combatants in the area predominantly rely on tripwire or remote-controlled mines.
The two severely injured children—an eight-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy—have been transferred from a local facility in Hpakant to Myitkyina General Hospital for specialist treatment.
The villages of Taung Pyo and nearby Bala Kha sit adjacent to Lamaung Hill, the highest peak west of the Hpakant strategic command base. The area was fiercely contested after revolutionary forces captured a military council outpost on the hill in 2024, prompting a massive regime counter-offensive during the 2025 rainy season.
The intense clashes forced the entire local population to flee. However, following a lull in the fighting in late 2025, an estimated 90% of displaced residents recently returned to resettle in their homes, unaware of the explosive remnants left behind in the former battlegrounds.
The incident highlights the growing threat of unexploded ordnance to civilians in post-conflict zones. Just two days prior, on 11 February, a man was killed and a woman injured after stepping on a planted landmine in an alleyway in Hpakant’s Mashi Kahtaung ward.
The 13 February blast fell on Myanmar Children’s Day. According to data released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), at least 20 children under the age of 18 have been killed by the military junta’s actions in February alone.
