During December 2021, improvised Claymore-type mines prepared from blue PVC pipes, with metal ball fragmentation began to appear in the Myanmar arena. The IEDs were documented both by security forces in Myanmar and by operatives of various armed groups affiliated with the People’s Defense Force.
Claymore-type mines, both standard and improvised – ostensibly sourced from old stocks of veteran armed groups – have been documented on numerous occasions in recent months, in use by militants opposed to the junta rule, but the specific abovementioned PVC model appeared only recently.
In late November 2021, a Burmese instructional video detailing how to assemble a Claymore-type mine in a PVC casing was disseminated on accounts dedicated to instructional materials on the preparation of IEDs, homemade explosives and improvised ammunition, along with another video demonstrating how to prepare an improvised electric detonator.
The appearance of similar IEDs in the field close to the time when the instructional video was being circulated is not necessarily coincidental, and points the spotlight on the way in which new IED technologies are rapidly learned and implemented by the militant anti-Tatmadaw forces in Myanmar.
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