War-left U.S. aerial bomb removed in southern Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC)'s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) experts had safely removed a war-left U.S.-made MK-82 aerial bomb discovered recently in southern Kandal province, a mine clearance chief said on Wednesday.

The CMAC director-general Heng Ratana wrote on his Facebook page that the aerial bomb, weighing approximately 230 kilograms, was spotted in Kean Svay district's Raing Dek village while a farmer restored a pond for fish raising.

"This bomb was safely removed and neutralized on June 20," he said, adding that it was buried more than four meters deep in mud for more than 50 years.

According to Yale University, between 1965 and 1973, the United States dropped some 230,516 bombs from planes on 113,716 sites in Cambodia.

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen wrote in his book titled "Hun Sen: 10 Years of Cambodia's Journey, 1979-1989" that the U.S. bombings on Cambodia caused "tens of thousands of civilian casualties because of this vicious undeclared war."