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In the dense hill forests along Bangladesh’s border with war-torn Myanmar, villagers are losing limbs to landmines, casualties of a conflict not of their making.

Ali Hossain, 40, was collecting firewood in early 2025 when a blast shattered his life.

“I went into the jungle with fellow villagers. Suddenly, there was an explosion and my leg was blown off,” he said. “I screamed at the top of my voice.”

Neighbours rushed to stem the blood.

“They picked me up, gathered my severed leg and took me to hospital.”

In Ashartoli, a small settlement in Bandarban district, the weapons of a foreign war have turned forests, farms and footpaths into killing grounds.

Bangladesh’s 271km (168-mile) eastern border with Myanmar cuts through forests and rivers, much of it unmarked.

It is crossed daily by villagers, as their families have done for generations, to collect firewood or carry out small-time trading.

Myanmar is the world’s most dangerous country for landmine casualties, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which has documented the “massive” and growing use of the weapons, banned by many states.

The group recorded more than 2,000 casualties in Myanmar in 2024, the latest full year for which statistics are available, double the total reported the year before.

“The use of mines appeared to significantly increase in 2024-2025,” it said in its Landmine Monitor report, highlighting “an increase in the number of mine victims, particularly near the border” with Bangladesh.

Bangladesh accuses Myanmar’s military and its rival armed groups of planting the mines.

Arakan Army fighters, one of the many factions challenging the junta’s rule, control swaths of jungle across the border.

More than a million Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar also live in Bangladesh’s border regions, caught between the warring military and separatist forces.

Bangladesh police say at least 28 people were injured by landmines in 2025.

In November that year, a Bangladesh border guard was killed when a landmine tore off both his legs.

Bangladesh’s border force has put up warning signs and red flags, and carries out regular mine-clearing operations.

But villagers say warnings offer little protection when survival depends on entering forests seeded with explosives, leaving communities in Bangladesh to pay the price of war.

HELEN Flanagan was issued a warning from her fans after threatening to “destroy” her ex Scott Sinclair.

The former Coronation Street actress split up from her footballer fiance in 2022, but the pair has struggled to co-parent their three children with Helen recently lashing out at him on Instagram.

Helen called Scott “a piece of s**t” for missing their youngest son’s nativity play, but it seems trouble must have been brewing weeks ago.

The actress posted to TikTok wearing a sexy, animal print corset top and brushed her blonde her as an audio recording of boxer Tyson Fury played over the top.

The audio from 2017 was Tyson saying: “I will destroy you, I will dismantle you, I will dissect you like an insect, smash you to pieces without no hesitation.”

It was a warning to fellow Brit boxer, Anthony Joshua and Helen joked that she too was using it as a threat to Scott.

HEL & BACK

How Helen Flanagan’s split from Scott turned nuclear & why Xmas may spark clash

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Helen Flanagan cuts last tie with ex Scott Sinclair after lashing out at footballer

“My voice notes to my baby dad ( I’m 5ft 4, and struggle to open a bottle of water),” Helen captioned the TikTok.

Her fans were divided about the video and shared their thoughts in the comment section.

“Please be careful posting content like this Helen, if he ever took you to Court over child access, his representation would happily use this against you. Also, your eldest is at an age where she may see this and whatever has happened between you as adults seeing stuff like this about her Dad may upset her,” wrote one person.

Another added: “Hope your kids don’t see this. Take the high ground hun. Even if he is a piece of s***. Your future self will thank you.”

And a third commented: “All I’ll say is yes queen.”

Things seemed to go nuclear between Helen and Scott this week when she slated him online for missing son Charlie’s nativity play.

Helen this week lashed out this week at the Bristol Rovers footballer who was living it up in Abu Dhabi, rather than at Charlie’s big day.

The actress labelled her ex a “piece of s**t” after he posted photos of himself at the F1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi over the weekend.

She shared his post to her Instagram stories and added: “How dare you not turn up to Charlie’s nativity.”

The couple who split in 2022, share children Matilda, 10, and seven-year-old Delilah as well as son Charlie, four.

And now, a source has revealed that Helen was expecting Scott to watch Charlie’s nativity play due to her busy workload.

She is currently starring as The Wicked Queen in a production of Snow White in Liverpool.