Another war-left US aerial bomb found in Cambodia

A CAMBODIAN Mine Action Centre (CMAC)’s expert team has found another war-left US-made MK-82 aerial bomb in southeast Kampong Cham province, a mine clearance chief said.

CMAC’s director-general Heng Ratana said the MK-82 aerial bomb, weighing around 230kg, had been spotted while workers were digging a canal in Prey Chhor district.

“This bomb has been buried more than four meters deep for over 50 years, but it remains in good condition,” he wrote on social media.

He said the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) expert team safely removed and neutralised it on Tuesday.

According to the official, since the start of the year, the EOD expert team had unearthed and safely removed six MK-82 aerial bombs and one 350kg M117 aerial bomb in different provinces including Kampong Cham, Kampong Speu, Kandal and Preah Sihanouk.

Ratana wrote on social media in February that an estimated more than four million tonnes of aerial bombs and 27 million cluster bombs had been dropped on some 115,273 locations throughout Cambodia by more than 500,000 US bombing missions between mid-1965 and 1973. — Xinhua