Sound familiar?

I came across this reference today, from an insurgency long ago. It sounds awfully familiar, no?

According to Frelimo, it used mines against the Forces Armadas for military, political, economic and psychological goals. The mine is a weapon of the semi-skilled and as such fitted into Frelimo's reliance on village youth to conduct its campaign. Its effectiveness was great, however. Two out of every three troops, or 70 percent, struck down by the guerrillas were mine victims.

Yet the highest casualty was Portuguese morale. Understandably, troops feared treading on an anti-personnel device. This led to a mine psychosis and contributed to a static defense mentality in some colonial units. Riders in ambushed convoys in many instances stayed frozen in their vehicles or on the roadside to avoid stepping on anti-personnel mines which were often sown near the anti-vehicular variety of mines. Mined vehicles twisted like licorice and mine craters along roadways conjured up grim reflections of previous tragedies. Sometimes, the colonial forces towed away the derelicts, not for spare parts but to remove telltale reminders. But many a convoy was spared heavy damage, aside from the stricken vehicle and its crew, by the all-too-quick getaway of the guerrillas who fired and ran. Generally, Frelimo abstained from prolonged assault on well-escorted convoys.

Still another Frelimo objective was attained by mine wounds. When two or three soldiers left the combat zone to carry a mined comrade, their leave-taking, however brief, diminished the size of the patrol. Helicopters, when used for evacuation, also reduced the forces flying combat missions which could have inflicted losses on the guerrilla army. Transportation and other facilities were more tied up for a wounded man than a dead one. Thus, the insurgents' goal took more into account than raising the casualty list when burying the lethal canisters in the ground.

Thomas H. Henriksen, Revolution and Counterrevolution, (London: Greenwood Press, 1983), p. 44.

FRELIMO was the Frente de Libertacao de Mozambique, which waged a successful insurgency against Portugal from 1964 to 1974.