Mohammad Hanif was walking with his nephew and several fishermen near Shahjahaner Dwip in Teknaf when he heard an explosion. He thought someone was shooting at them.
The others scattered. Hanif fell into a canal. When he looked down, he saw that one of his legs had been torn apart.
“I thought it was the Arakan Army shooting at us,” he told Daily Waadaa. “I dropped into the canal and saw my leg was gone. It was hanging like a fish tail.” He called for his nephew, Dildar, who dragged him past a fish enclosure to safety.
Both legs were injured. Doctors later amputated one. Hanif survived. But he could no longer fish as he once had.
At his home in Teknaf's Howaikong union, Hanif sits outside in a navy-blue T-shirt, his crutches propped beside him. Behind him are trees and the vegetation of a village where fishing provides an income for many families.
He is young, with short black hair and a closely trimmed beard. The crutches besides him tell part of the story.
Before the explosion, Hanif earned a living from fishing. His wife, Sufaira Aktar, was pregnant with their second child. She has since given birth, and the newborn has developed pneumonia.
“It was a frightening time,” Sufaira said. Now the family faces medical expenses and the loss of Hanif's earnings. “The government should help us survive, with our two children,” she said.
Hanif's father, Fojol Korim, told Waadaa that the family had spent more than 200,000 taka on treatment. They received some donations, but the money covered only a fraction of their expenses.
“He didn't deserve this,” Fojol said, struggling to hold back tears. “As long as I am alive, I can look after him. But when I am gone, what will happen to him?”
Hanif's injury is one of a growing number of casualties from explosions along Bangladesh's southeastern frontier, where the war in neighbouring Myanmar has brought a new danger to communities that depend on fishing and farming as well as on daily labour.
The consequences extend far beyond the initial injury for those who survive. They lose income, accumulate medical bills and often become dependent on relatives who are already struggling financially.
And for families of those killed… the loss is permanent.
In a written response to Waadaa on October 4, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) said 15 landmine explosion incidents connected to the Bangladesh-Myanmar border had been recorded so far in 2026.
The explosions killed six people and injured 11. All six people killed were Bangladeshis. Eight of those injured were Bangladeshi nationals, while three were Rohingya.
The figures cover incidents recorded by the BGB through October 4, 2026. The force said it was reviewing records from previous years to establish the number of earlier casualties, including those involving Rohingya refugees.
There is a dispute over where the explosions have occurred.
Several victims interviewed by Waadaa said they were injured inside Bangladesh. The BGB maintained that the mines were located beyond Bangladesh's jurisdiction, on the Myanmar side of the border.
The competing accounts could not be independently reconciled. This uncertainty complicates decisions about where they can work safely for residents there.
On August 6, Bodiul Alam, a 50-year-old fisherman from Balukhali Jumerchora in Ukhiya, went to the Naf River. He had made the trip many times before.
While fishing in shallow water near the Balukhali BGB camp, an explosion struck his foot.
At first, Bodiul felt numb. He thought someone had fired at him and searched his body for bullet wounds. Then he tried to climb into his boat. He could not.
He shouted for help. Other fishermen came to his rescue, and he spent about 20 days receiving treatment.
When Waadaa went to meet him, Bodiul sat in a wheelchair outside a modest village home. He wears a pale-green T-shirt and a checked lungi. A thick white bandage covers the lower part of one leg. Two crutches rest behind his wheelchair.
Bodiul has four daughters. Before the explosion, his fishing income supported the household. Now he worries about their future.
“I have nobody to help them except me,” he told Waadaa. “Now that I am a disabled man, what will happen to my daughters?”
Across the border, the Arakan Army has taken control of large areas of Myanmar's Rakhine State after years of fighting the country's military. Its territorial gains have changed the security situation along Bangladesh's frontier.
The BGB said areas where explosions have occurred are predominantly controlled by the Arakan Army. But it declined to identify the armed group responsible for planting specific devices.
“Investigation and technical assessment will determine which specific armed group planted which device. Attribution will rest on evidence, not assumption,” the force told Waadaa.
“What is clear is that responsibility lies with the parties to the conflict on the Myanmar side,” they added.
Bangladesh is a signatory to the Ottawa Mine Ban Convention, which prohibits anti-personnel mines. The BGB said Bangladesh neither produces nor stockpiles nor uses such weapons.
“The threat is therefore entirely external, a direct spillover of the armed conflict inside Myanmar,” it said in a written reply.
Major General (retd) Dr Md Nayeem Ashfaque Chowdhury, vice-chairman of the security think tank OCPASS, said the Arakan Army might be using mines or improvised explosive devices to defend territory it controls.
“The Arakan Army may be using mines or IEDs to create a barrier,” he told Waadaa.
He suggested that the armed group might lack sufficient personnel to guard its positions and could be using explosives to restrict movement.
The group might also fear incursions by armed Rohingya crossing from Bangladesh, including individuals recruited or coerced into fighting for Myanmar's military, he said.
But Chowdhury cautioned against treating every explosion as proof of an anti-personnel mine. “There is a difference between an IED and an anti-personnel mine,” he said.
Determining the type of device, its placement and the group responsible requires technical examination.
None of the accounts independently establishes who planted the devices that injured the people interviewed for this report.
The location of the explosions also remains contested. Victims insist that some occurred on Bangladeshi soil. The BGB says the mine threat originates across the border.
In Rezu Amtali village of Naikhongchhari, Bandarban, Amina Khatun lives with her young daughter, Bibi Mariam. The Waadaa team visited her home this month.
Amina sits in the doorway of a dark, modest home, holding the child close. She wears a black scarf with red floral patterns. Bibi Mariam sits on her lap.
Together, they hold up a document bearing a man's photograph. The man is Amina's husband, Sofiq Alam.
He was born in 2003 and worked as a day labourer. In June, Sofiq was carrying bricks near the Rezu Amtali BGB camp when an explosion killed him, according to his family.
He had been the household's principal earner. “We didn't have food. Each day, whether we ate or not depended on whether Shafiq would get work,” Amina said.
His death left her caring for their daughter without a regular income.
Bibi Mariam has physical and developmental disabilities, according to Amina. She also has a congenital heart condition and suffers recurring episodes of fever and respiratory illness.
Doctors have warned the family that such illnesses could become dangerous without adequate treatment, Amina said.
The family received about 21,000 taka [one time] in assistance from the upazila chairman, she said. That was all the financial help she reported receiving.
“We don't have food. How can we afford her treatment?” Amina asked.
She recalled the bond between Sofiq and their daughter. Although Bibi Mariam often did not respond when others called her, Amina said, she recognised her father. “She would never let go of her father,” she said. “Now she has nowhere to go.”
Elsewhere in Naikhongchhari, Onna Tain Tanchangya has also lost his ability to work as he once did. He said he was injured by an explosive device while working in his own field near the Tumbru border area.
“I went to work in my own field, and suddenly my leg was blown off,” he said.
Before the explosion, Onna had worked for several years in Dhaka's garment industry. He later returned to his village and worked on his land. Now he uses crutches and runs a small betel-leaf shop.
He said he received approximately 30,000 taka in donations after his injury. The field where he was injured remains unused.
“People are scared of mines. This is a terrible fear for farmers, and many hesitate to go to their fields,” he said.
“My piece of land remains idle.”
In the hills around Tumbru, small homes stand among dense trees and cultivated slopes. The terrain is steep and heavily vegetated. For residents who depend on agriculture, access to fields is essential.
The explosions have affected more than those directly injured. Fear has also discouraged some residents from cultivating land that provides their livelihood.
The BGB said it had identified potential mine-risk locations and placed warning signs, cautionary banners and red flags in vulnerable areas.
It said mine-sweeping operations were continuing in coordination with the Bangladesh Army where necessary.
Patrols and surveillance have also been intensified.
The force said it was working with local residents, elected representatives, religious leaders and the civil administration to raise awareness of the danger. Residents have been urged not to cross into Myanmar.
The BGB also warned that smugglers sometimes pay local people to transport illegal goods across the frontier, exposing them to mined areas. The hilly, forested terrain makes monitoring difficult, the force said.
Chowdhury called for greater use of surveillance technology, including drones, radar, CCTV cameras and satellite imagery.
“There are different kinds of equipment for surveillance at night and during the day,” he said. “These technologies can reduce the need for a constant human presence.”
He also recommended completing the border road, increasing patrols and strengthening public awareness.
Chowdhury believes the devices are likely being placed physically rather than remotely.
“I don't think the Arakan Army has the technology to deploy these mines remotely,” he said.
“My assessment is that people are physically placing the mines or IEDs, either coming from Myanmar or from within Bangladesh.”
Clearing existing mines would require a systematic operation, he said.
Bangladesh has demining capabilities, but a comprehensive search of affected areas would require a government-level decision. Diplomatic engagement presents another difficulty.
Myanmar's central authorities no longer control all the territory facing Bangladesh. Any effort to address explosives in Arakan Army-controlled areas would therefore involve political and operational complications.
Chowdhury said diplomatic channels would be necessary if explosives were being planted inside Bangladeshi territory.
For the injured, recovery does not end when they leave the hospital.
Bodiul returned home after weeks of treatment to a household dependent on his fishing income. His four daughters still need food, clothing and education. Onna has found a way to earn a small income through his shop, but he can no longer farm his land as before.
Amina must raise a daughter with serious medical needs after losing the husband whose daily wages sustained them. Hanif, meanwhile, is adjusting to life with an amputated leg while caring for two young children.
Hanif told Waadaa that the explosions had continued near his village.
Since his injury, he said, four goats had been killed in four separate blasts. Daily Waadaa could not independently verify those incidents. Residents remain frightened, he said.
Hanif believes the BGB should do more to protect communities living on the Bangladeshi side of the frontier.
“If they keep planting mines on our border, what is the BGB doing to stop them?” he asked.
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