Two boys were killed when a suspected civil-war era grenade they found in a forest exploded at their home on Saturday.

District police chief Heng Savoeun said Leang Pi, 8, died at the scene and Bouy Socheat, 10, died at the provincial hospital after finding a B-40 grenade while playing in Kandorl commune in Koh Kong’s Botum Sakor district.

“They are too young to know that what they were playing with was dangerous, he said, adding the boys ‘parents were away at a rice field.

“They would not have died, or the grenade would not have exploded, if their parents or an adult were at home,” he said.

Heng Savoeun said the local authority educated residents about the dangers of bombs and grenades.

“It is difficult to tell young children, because they do not seem to understand or pay attention to our explanation,” he said.

“There are a lot of grenades and bombs in our district left from the Pol Pot regime,” he said.