They kill both enemy and ally. Mines that were planted decades ago in warfare now claim the lives of civilians, perhaps the combatants children and grandchildren. The over 100 million land mines that litter earth are in some 60 countries. The greatest concentration of mines has been in Africa and Asia, but an increasing number are being laid in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in the former Yugoslavia. There is an especially high concentration of mines in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Iraq, and Iran.
Land mines are cheap to produce, but expensive to destroy.
There is one land mine for every 12 children in the world. Land mines kill or injure 26,000 people each year. Roughly 13 per cent are soldiers, about 4 per cent are demining personnel, and the remaining 83 per cent are civilians. The United Nations estimates that 30 to 40 per cent of the civilian victims are children. There are many reasons why children are so often killed or maimed by a land mine.