The poster will be displayed all over the UK

The Welsh-born player unveiled one of the posters close to Manchester United's Old Trafford ground.

Giggs said: "Sadly this is exactly what happens to thousands of children every year when they accidentally step on a landmine.

"It often occurs when they are out playing in the fields and before they know it their lives are in tatters."

A Unicef spokesman said every day 26 children tread on landmines in wartorn areas across the world.

Prosthetic limbs

The billboard poster is of the prints of Candilo, a nine-year-old Angolan child, who last year had his leg blown off by a landmine.

The youngster was trying to keep up with his older brother as they raced home and he trod on a mine.

Unicef works in several ways to prevent children getting injured or killed by stepping on the weapons.

It runs education programmes for children and communities on how to avoid landmines as well as providing physiotherapy and prosthetic limbs to those who have survived accidents.