An unscheduled bathroom break led to the discovery of 27 pieces of unexploded ordnance in Kampong Speu’s Samrong Tong district on Monday, military police said yesterday.

Ven Lenghuong, Samrong Tong district military police commander, said that a patrolling military police officer had left his group to urinate when he spotted the tops of four rockets protruding from the ground near Sla village, in Voasar commune.

“They found 27 pieces of unexploded ordnance, of which most of them were [B-40 rockets], and some of them were usable,” Lenghuong said.

The area was home to a Lon Nol-era military base, and villagers maintained that the location was the scene of bitter fighting between Lon Nol forces and the Khmer Rouge, he added.

According to Cambodian Mine Action Centre director general Heng Rattana, demining experts and district military police dug out and detonated the war remnants on the spot.

“Of those pieces of ordnance, some of them could have exploded if they were touched, or collided accidentally. Therefore, the experts decided to detonate them there immediately,” Rattana said.