On October 11, 2023, security forces in Myanmar discovered and neutralized six IEDs that had been planted on a bridge in Muse District, in Shan State, in eastern Myanmar, near the border with China. The VOIEDs were identical, with metal can casings, to which an improvised initiation system, fashioned from a tripwire-actuated improvised wooden clothespin-based pull booby trap was attached. The trap incorporated tripwire stretched across the bridge, connected to a wooden stick serving as a separator fitted between the ‘jaws’ of an improvised wooden clothespin, fashioned from two sticks to which metallic contacts were attached, designed to close an electric circuit and initiate the IED by pulling on the tripwire, thus pulling out the separator. Different types of improvised wooden clothespins in various designs are familiar from their use by the militias in Myanmar, as pull booby traps or remotely-activated initiation systems. Albeit less common in this arena compared to other initiation systems and booby traps, they appear from time to time in different parts of the country, used by different groups, and it seems the knowledge to produce them is being passed between the different fighting forces. Interestingly, similar booby traps are also known to be used by Naxalite militants in neighboring India.
Get the full report
If you would like to get the full report, leave your details in the form below.
Please be advised we can only send reports to validated government organizations.
