HRW: Colombia has most landmine victims

BOGOTA, July 26 (UPI) -- Colombia has become the number one country for landmine victims, with more than 1,000 killed last year, Human Rights Watch reported Thursday.

The rights group blamed the increase in landmine deaths -- up from 300 in 2001 -- on left-wing rebel groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

"By using anti-personnel landmines, the FARC are leaving Colombian civilians who have no part in the conflict maimed, blind, deaf or dead," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch. "There is simply no excuse for using these indiscriminate weapons."

The FARC has been fighting the Colombian government for more than 40 years.