For as long as one landmine remains undetected in a field in Angola, and as long as five landmines sit in wait in a devastated city block in Grozny, Chechnya, there can be no peace of mind for the hapless and traumatized civilians living there. Crops rot in fields made fallow by only one landmine and in towns the fear engendered by landmines can force the closure of buildings, streets and sometimes entire neighborhoods. It is a sadly familiar story in at least sixty-eight countries. Fifteen hundred civilians were killed and wounded in the month of April 1995, reported the International Committee of the Red Cross. 11 U.N. deminers have identified fifty types of antipersonnel landmines in Afghanistan, the most ever recorded in one country.
Antipersonnel mines are also weapons of terror employed directly against civilians.
The destruction of the Croat village of Lovas in October 1991 at the hands of Serb paramilitaries is a case in point. At this point they realized they were being driven through a minefield. When they caught sight of a taut wire, they stopped. They were then ordered to pull it with their hands. Some of the men were so badly wounded that they begged to be killed.