Editing Guerrilla warfare (section)

===Land mines===
[[Land mine]]s have been used extensively by insurgents throughout [[Cold War]] and post-Cold War conflicts such as the [[First Indochina War]], [[Vietnam War]], [[South African Border War]] and conflicts in [[Iraq]], [[Syria]] and [[Yemen]] by insurgents as a method of area denial, [[psychological warfare]] and [[Attrition warfare|attrition]].

During the [[Portuguese Colonial War]], mines and other [[booby trap]]s were one of the principal weapons used by African nationalist insurgents against Portuguese mechanized forces to great effect, who typically patrolled the mostly unpaved roads of their territories using motor vehicles and armored scout cars.<ref>Abbott, Peter and Rodrigues, Manuel, ''Modern African Wars 2: Angola and Mozambique 1961-74'', Osprey Publishing (1998), p. 23: It is estimated that mines planted by insurgents caused about 70 per cent of all Portuguese casualties.</ref> To counter the mine threat, Portuguese engineers commenced the herculean task of tarring the rural road network.<ref>Abbott, Peter and Rodrigues, Manuel, ''Modern African Wars 2: Angola and Mozambique 1961–74'', Osprey Publishing (1998), p. 23</ref> Mine detection was accomplished not only by electronic mine detectors, but also by employing trained soldiers (''picadors'') walking abreast with long probes to detect nonmetallic road mines. Guerrillas in all the various revolutionary movements used a variety of mines, often combining anti-tank with anti-personnel mines to ambush Portuguese formations with devastating results. A common tactic was to plant large anti-vehicle mines in a roadway bordered by obvious cover, such as an irrigation ditch, then seed the ditch with anti-personnel mines. Detonation of the vehicle mine would cause Portuguese troops to deploy and seek cover in the ditch, where the anti-personnel mines would cause further casualties. If the insurgents planned to confront the Portuguese openly, one or two heavy machine guns would be sited to sweep the ditch and other likely areas of cover. Mines used included the [[PMN mine|PMN (Black Widow)]], [[TM-46 mine|TM-46]], and [[POMZ]], amphibious mines such as the [[PDM series of amphibious mines|PDM]], and numerous home-made antipersonnel wood box mines and other nonmetallic explosive devices. The impact of mining operations, in addition to causing casualties, undermined the mobility of Portuguese forces, while diverting troops and equipment from security and offensive operations to convoy protection and mine clearance missions.

During the [[Rhodesian Bush War]], the [[Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army]] (ZANLA) tried to paralyse the Rhodesian effort and economy by planting Soviet anti-tank mines on the roads. From 1972 to 1980 there were 2,504 vehicle detonations of land mines (mainly Soviet TM46s), killing 632 people and injuring 4,410. Mining of roads increased 33.7% from 1978 (894 mines or 2.44 mines were detonated or recovered per day) to 1979 (2,089 mines or 5.72 mines a day).<ref>Wood, J. R. T. (24 May 1995). [http://www.rhodesia.nl/wood2.htm "Rhodesian Insurgency"]. See here [http://www.jrtwood.com/bio_publications.asp www.jrtwood.com] for confirmation of authorship.</ref> In response, the Rhodesians co-operated with the South Africans to develop a range of mine-protected vehicles. They began by replacing air in tyres with water which absorbed some of the blast and reduced the heat of the explosion. Initially, they protected the bodies with steel deflector plates, sandbags and mine conveyor belting. Later, purpose-built vehicles with V-shaped blast hulls dispersed the blast, and deaths in such vehicles became unusual events.<ref>Wood, J. R. T. (1995). [http://www.jrtwood.com/article_pookie.asp "The Pookie: a History of the World's first successful Landmine Detector Carrier"]. Durban. Retrieved 19 October 2011.</ref> These developments subsequently led to the South African Hippo, [[Casspir]], Mamba and [[RG-31|Nyala]] wheeled light troop carriers.

Land mines were commonly deployed by insurgents during the [[South African Border War]], leading directly to the development of the first dedicated [[MRAP|mine-protected armoured vehicles]] in South Africa. Namibian insurgents used anti-tank mines to throw South African military convoys into disarray before attacking them. In the areas of fighting that covered vast sparsely populated areas of southern [[Angola]] and northern [[Namibia]], it was easy for small groups to infiltrate and lay their mines on roads before escaping again often undetected. The anti-tank mines were most often placed on public roads used by civilian and military vehicles and had a great psychological effect. Mines were often laid in complex arrangements. One tactic was to lay multiple mines on top of each other to increase the blast effect. Another common tactic was to link together several mines placed within a few metres of each other, so that all would detonate when any one was triggered.  To discourage detection and removal efforts, they also laid anti-personnel mines directly parallel to the anti-tank mines. This initially resulted in heavy South African military and police casualties, as the vast distances of road network vulnerable to insurgent sappers every day made comprehensive detection and clearance efforts impractical. The only other viable option was the adoption of mine-protected vehicles which could remain mobile on the roads with little risk to their passengers even if a mine was detonated. South Africa is widely credited with inventing the [[v-hull]], a vee-shaped hull for armoured vehicles which deflects mine blasts away from the passenger compartment.<ref>Camp, Steve; Helmoed-Römer, Heitman (November 2014). ''Surviving the Ride: A pictorial history of South African Manufactured Mine-Protected vehicles''. Pinetown: 30 Degrees South. pp. 19–34. {{ISBN|978-1-928211-17-4}}.</ref><ref>[http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2004/namibia.html "Namibia"]. ''Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor''. Archived from [https://web.archive.org/web/20200803113024/http://archives.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm%2F2004%2Fnamibia.html the original] on August 3, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2019.</ref>

During the [[War in Iraq (2013–2017)|Iraqi]],<ref>Cousins, Sophie (February 20, 2015). [http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/treacherous-battle-free-iraq-landmines-150209103531036.html "The treacherous battle to free Iraq of landmines"]. Al Jazeera. [https://web.archive.org/web/20171011201525/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/treacherous-battle-free-iraq-landmines-150209103531036.html Archived] from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2019.</ref> [[Syrian civil war|Syrian]]<ref>Mines Advisory Group (January 11, 2017). [https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/new-landmine-emergency-threatens-communities-iraq-and-syria "New landmine emergency threatens communities in Iraq and Syria"]. ''reliefweb.int''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20171011152309/https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/new-landmine-emergency-threatens-communities-iraq-and-syria Archived] from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2019.</ref><ref>[https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21719830-clearing-syria-and-iraq-unexploded-bombs-and-booby-traps-could-take "Islamic State is losing land but leaving mines behind"]. ''The Economist''. March 30, 2017. [https://web.archive.org/web/20180307161459/https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21719830-clearing-syria-and-iraq-unexploded-bombs-and-booby-traps-could-take Archived] from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2019.</ref> and [[Yemeni civil war (2014–present)|Yemeni]]<ref>[https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/20/yemen-houthi-saleh-forces-using-landmines "Yemen: Houthi-Saleh Forces Using Landmines"]. Human Rights Watch. April 20, 2017. [https://web.archive.org/web/20180322202754/https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/20/yemen-houthi-saleh-forces-using-landmines Archived] from the original on March 22, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2019.</ref> civil wars, landmines have been used for both defensive and guerrilla purposes. Anti-tank mines were also used extensively in Cambodia and along the Thai border, many planted by [[Pol Pot]]'s [[Khmer Rouge]] insurgency. Millions of these mines remain in the area, despite clearing efforts. It is estimated that they cause hundreds of deaths annually to civilians.