Forty-four cases of 12.7mm machine gun bullets, nine K-57 Russian machine gun bullet cases, one AK-44 bullet case, two 120mm mortar rounds and one RPG-7 grenade launcher round were excavated in Battambang province’s Phnom Proek district. CMAC
Phnom Proek district police in Battambang province sent 54 excavated cases of munitions to the Battambang provincial Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) on Monday.
District police chief Sareth Viseth told The Post on Monday that most of the munitions were damaged. Between 80 and 90 per cent of them were unusable.
He said a local villager found the munitions while tilling his field in Pich Chenda commune’s O village.
There were 44 cases of 12.7mm machine gun bullets, nine K-57 Russian machine gun bullet cases, one AK-44 bullet case, two 120mm mortar rounds and one RPG-7 grenade launcher round, said Viseth.
“The munitions were found at an old Khmer Rouge battlefield near the Cambodian-Thai border,” he said.
Battambang provincial CMAC deputy director Mam Vannarith told The Post on Monday that the cases arrived at noon the same day.
He said they would temporarily store the cases before sending them to the Kampong Chhnang provincial CMAC to be destroyed.
“There are unexploded ordnance scattered throughout Battambang province’s 13 districts and Battambang town,” said Vannarith.
Figures from the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) said there were 285 landmine victims in Battambang province between 2010 and April this year. Nine were injured by landmines between January and April.
