Direct proof of use
Human Rights Watch directly documented TM-62 use in the 2014 Yemen Civil War. In an April 20, 2017 report, the organization said Houthi-Saleh forces had used landmines in at least six governorates since the Saudi-led coalition began operations in March 2015, and it specifically identified TM-62 and TM-57 mines made in the former Soviet Union among anti-vehicle mines used in Yemen.
The same report tied the wider mine-laying pattern to Sanaa, Marib, Aden, Taizz, and other affected areas. It described anti-vehicle mine use as part of Houthi-Saleh withdrawals and front-line contamination, while distinguishing those weapons from banned antipersonnel mines and improvised mines.
Sources: Yemen Houthi-Saleh Forces Using Landmines
Timeline
The public record does not give a single first TM-62 detonation date, but it does place documented Houthi-Saleh landmine use after the Saudi-led coalition intervention began on March 26, 2015. Human Rights Watch reported that Houthi-Saleh forces laid anti-vehicle and antipersonnel mines as they withdrew from Aden in July 2015.
By September 2016, Human Rights Watch had reported Houthi and allied landmine use in Taizz, including an August 9, 2016 civilian casualty incident caused by an anti-vehicle mine in al-Waziyah. The April 2017 HRW report then named TM-62 mines as one of the Soviet-made anti-vehicle mine types documented in the conflict.
Sources: Yemen Houthi-Saleh Forces Using Landmines, Yemen Houthi Landmines Claim Civilian Victims
Narrative
In Yemen, the TM-62 appears in the record as a Houthi-Saleh anti-vehicle mine used for route denial, withdrawal coverage, and contamination of areas later entered by civilians, local forces, or demining teams. Human Rights Watch's 2017 field reporting drew on interviews with mine-clearance personnel, security officials, victims, and activists, and it named TM-62 mines alongside other anti-vehicle mine types.
Later reporting shows that Houthi landmine use remained a major western-coast and humanitarian problem even when individual mine models were not always identified. Landmine Monitor reported Houthi use of antipersonnel and anti-vehicle mines in 2018 and 2019, primarily near Hodeida, and cited UN investigators who found civilian harm from Houthi anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines in several governorates.
Mine Action Review described Yemen's mine-action system as split between Sanaa- and Aden-based authorities and said armed conflict continued to add explosive-hazard contamination. Those broader sources support the continuing mine-contamination context; the TM-62-specific conflict-use claim rests on the Human Rights Watch report that directly identifies the mine type.
Sources: Yemen Houthi-Saleh Forces Using Landmines, Landmine Monitor 2019, Yemen Clearing the Mines 2022
