Prime Minister Hun Sen requested assistance from the United States, Australia and other countries with expertise in fighting terrorism yesterday as he called for an investigation into fragments of an alleged “unmanned reconnaissance aircraft” found in Preah Vihear province.

Speaking at a meeting at the Ministry of Interior, Hun Sen said that after Thailand denied that the aircraft was its own, he wanted to investigate terrorism-related possibilities.

“I would focus on terrorist activities because we cannot skip looking for terrorists. They might use this method as a test for the purpose of attacking Cambodia or Thailand or other destinations in other countries,” Hun Sen said, claiming further that terrorists may be inclined to attach bombs on the next aircraft if their test proved successful.

Hun Sen specifically asked for assistance in examining a “black box” he claimed had been found by Cambodian military officials who inspected the crash site.

The Ministry of Defence issued a statement yesterday saying that a field investigation had found “over 30 fragments of an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft scattered over a region located around 64km from the Provisional Demilitarised Zone in the Preah Vihear Temple area”, which was created by the International Court of Justice last month.

The ministry said a series of “loud explosion[s]” in airspace over Preah Vihear’s Kulen district had been heard on Tuesday, sparking the investigation.