A former Lon Nol soldier was killed in a hand grenade explo­sion yesterday in Kandal’s Ang Snoul district in what authorities say was a suicide.

The 60-year-old father of six, living in poverty and ill-health in Lumhach com­mune, asked his son to escort him to the back of a field and after asking the son to leave, detonated a hand grenade he had kept from the Lon Nol days, Ang Snoul district police chief Mean Samnang said.

Samnang said that several days before, doctors had amputated the leg of the former soldier, who suffered from chronic circulatory problems.

His death was “not because of a family argument but rather his incurable illness and poverty”, Ang Snoul district governor Samuth Thoeun said. The victim’s family could not be reached yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lieng Sarith at [email protected]