Undefined Explosive Device (UED) event in Kachin, Waingmaw area, Myanmar on Wed 11th January 2023

One child died and two others were seriously injured when the unexploded munitions they were playing with exploded in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State, on 11 January. According to a local person, the three children were returning from school at about 4:00 pm when they discovered some unexploded munitions near to an outpost of the junta-affiliated Lisu Militia. They took it away and started playing with it, causing it to detonate. “I believe the children found the unexploded munitions near the militia camp. They took it away and were playing with it in the backyard of the Kachin Original Church. One child who lost his arm died, the other two were hurt. I know that both of them are in a critical condition,” he said. The boy who lost his arm in the explosion and who later died in hospital was named as 11-year-old Maung Khosie. The two injured boys were named as Maung Lalu, aged 10 and Maung Beya Sar, aged eight. According to military sources at the time of reporting they were undergoing surgery at the Northern Military Command's 300-bed military hospital in Myitkyina Town. Locals suggested that the munitions were either dropped by the militia or had been fired during fighting around the militia camp in 2022 and had not detonated. The junta and local militia have yet to issue a statement about the incident