JAN. 6, 2018 SundayReview | EDITORIAL By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

An assortment of land mines and bomb parts that were removed from the ground in Afghanistan. Photos by Larry Towell/Magnum Photos
The world is rolling backward, and at a disturbingly faster pace, in the struggle to limit carnage from land mines and other booby-trap explosives. The most recent numbers, covering 2016, are appalling.
Known casualties that year came to 8,605, including 2,089 deaths, according to a new report by Landmine Monitor, a research arm of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. The toll was nearly 25 percent higher than the 6,967 maimed and dead counted a year earlier, and more than double the 3,993 in 2014. And these numbers are almost assuredly an undercount. “In some states and areas, numerous casualties go unrecorded,” Landmine Monitor said.