Russian PMN-4 anti-personnel landmines in Syria

Armament Research Services ^ | October 1, 2015 | By Ivan Kochin with N.R. Jenzen-Jones

[Brad from Tennessee]

Recent images released by the Syrian Center for Demining & Rehabilitation (SCDR) feature Russian PMN-4 landmines which were found just west of Daraa, in Southern Syria. In a video dated 28 September 2015, a figure can be seen employing manual demining practices to remove a number of PMN-4 mines. The earlier PMN-2 landmine (seen at left in the image below) has been documented in Syria since at least early 2012, however this is the first known appearance of the PMN-4 (above and below, at right). Whilst the PMN-2 is one of the most prolific anti-personnel mines in the world, the PMN-4 is less frequently encountered. ARES has previously documented their employment during the Ukraine conflict.

With development beginning in the late 1970s, the PMN-4 first entered Soviet service in 1989. From 1989 until sometime in late 1990, PMN-4 mines were produced with a safety clip, whilst later mines have been produced with a safety cap. Once employed, the designs are not readily distinguished, however the presence of safety caps in available images indicates these landmines were produced after late 1990. This is supported by an analysis of the markings present on documented mines. . .

[ExNewsExSpook]

Not surpring; Putin is pulling out all the stops to keep Assad in power. BTW, if you look at the video of some of Russia’s initial airstrikes, it looks like may be using cluster munitions, based on the large number of smaller impacts/detonations. Someone claimed it was shrapnel from a larger bomb, but I didn’t see a bigger explosion, and the Russians understand the value of seeding an area with cluster weapons.

[2banana]

The US Army used to use land mines.

Then Clinton wanted a photo opportunity with Lady Di.

So we don’t use them anymore.

I have often wonder how many more terrorists are alive and how many more Americans have died since we can’t use land mines, napalm and cluster munitions...

[Brad from Tennessee]

In the Russian video you mentioned the munitions are impacting an open field. This makes no sense unless they were dropping something like anti-personnel mines. At first I thought it was an aiming error but if that was the case they wouldn't have released the video. In Afghanistan the Soviets deployed the infamous exploding toys to kill or cripple children. So there is no end to the nastiness Russian military research is capable of.

[AppyPappy]

Actually, they weren’t toys. They were just some messed type of mine that was small enough for a child to pick up.

[McGruff]

Well Duh. Russia has been supplying Syria with arms since the 1960s.

[Brad from Tennessee]

[Actually, they weren’t toys. They were just some messed type of mine that was small enough for a child to pick up.]

CSM Sept. 1987:

THE AFGHAN CHILD AND THE BRIGHT RED TRUCK

AWEEK before, Soviet armor and paratroops had pulled out of the area in Afghanistan’s Ningarhar Province. Behind them they left a variety of toys, scattered by a riverbank. Among them: a bright red plastic truck. A 14-year-old Afghan boy made the mistake of grabbing it. It exploded in his hands. It was one of the booby-trapped toys the Soviets are using as weapons in their war against the civilian population of Afghanistan that opposes Soviet occupation.

In this particular instance, the boy was fortunate. The booby-trapped toy was defective. He retained his fingers. Other children have been less fortunate. They have lost hands, or even been killed. . .

. . .Perhaps one of the most cruel and morally offensive Soviet tactics against Afghan children, says the report, is the use of antipersonnel mines constructed to resemble toys. The toy bombs have been disguised as dolls, chewing gum, pens, trucks, combs, and other common objects. When picked up, they explode. . .

http://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0916/eafgh.html

NYT Dec. 1985:

SOVIET TOYS OF DEATH

. . . the ghastly, deliberate crippling of children by Soviet invaders in Afghanistan. Indeed, having grown skeptical of Presidential anecdotes, some Americans may wonder if Ronald Reagan was talking through his evil-empire hat when he accused Russians of sowing insurgent areas with bombs disguised as toys. The evidence isn’t anecdotal. The evil is real.

The report asserts: ‘’The most horrible type of incident was that caused by the explosion of anti-personnel mines and especially of children’s ‘toys.’ Many witnesses testified that children had been very seriously wounded, having their hands or feet blown off, either by handling booby-trap toys they had picked up along the roadway, or by stepping on them. . . .

‘’The types of booby-trap toys encountered include those resembling pens, harmonicas, radios or matchboxes, and little bombs shaped like a bird. This type of bomb, consisting of two wings, one flexible and the other rigid, in the shape and colors of a bird, explodes when the flexible wing is touched. . .

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/10/opinion/soviet-toys-of-death.html

You may be correct. I’m just showing a sample of what was published.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Brad from Tennessee.