Two Cambodians killed, 6 injured by landmine explosion

An anti-tank landmine explosion killed two people and injured six others in a remote village in Cambodia's Battambang province, a former fighting zone, police said Monday.

Pich Saren, police chief of Sampovloun district, said that the explosion occurred on Sunday when an excavator dug about 3 meters in the hole to remove pig shit, triggering mine.

He said the driver and a man who rented the excavator were instantly killed and six onlookers were injured, two of them in serious conditions.

The excavator was completely destroyed.

The accident happened in Chhoeu Teal village in Sampovloun district, about 300 km northwest of the capital Phnom Penh.

Cambodia's five most mine-laid provinces are Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Uddor Meanchey, Pailin and Preah Vihear. Mines had been laid in chronic conflicts from the late 1960s to the mid- 1990s.

Source: Xinhua