Thousands of bullets were discovered by unsuspecting farmers as they were uprooting tree stumps on their property in Kampong Chhnang on Sunday.

According to Kdol Senchey, commune police chief Khuon Khorn, seven farmers in Teuk Phos district uncovered several boxes packed with shells as they pulled one of the stumps from the earth.

Khorn said eight boxes containing thousands of bullets were found and identified as M-16 ammunition left over from ongoing fighting with the Khmer Rouge in the 1980s and 1990s. “When we pulled open [the boxes] to see the explosive inside, the explosives were still [usable],” he said.

Khorn said he had already sent the bullets to the district police station, which would send them on to the provincial level.

He added that it was rare to find unexploded ordnance in his commune, but said demining officials had visited the site to detonate bombs in the past.

Teuk Phos district deputy police chief Kong Sam Ol said the location of the unearthed bullets was in a forest and former battleground.