Two Cambodian soldiers sustained injuries after accidentally setting off a buried anti-personnel mine in Pailin on Sunday.

“These two soldiers were clearing the grass in a cassava plantation in Chheu Krom village near the military camp, and their knife hit an anti-personnel mine that was buried in the plantation,” said Colonel Nup Srey Yuth, deputy chief of Pailin Provincial Police.

The soldiers were stationed at the A3 military camp based in Chheu Krom village, on the Cambodian-Thai border in Pailin.

One soldier, Hoeun Bunnath, 20, lost three fingers and received injuries to his eyes and left leg. The other injured soldier, Keo Savuth, 21, received minor wounds to his stomach and his back.

Both soldiers have been sent to the provincial hospital for treatment.

In the first nine months of this year, 86 people in Cambodia, including three in Pailin, were killed by mines and explosive remnants of war, according to the Cambodian Mine and UXO Victims’ Information Systems.