4 Cambodian children seriously injured by mine explosion

December 16, 2010
Xinhua

Four children were seriously injured in a landmine explosion on Wednesday afternoon when they were playing and hit the mine against the ground.

Kong Boy, councilor of Battambang province's Phnom Proek district, told Xinhua that the children picked up the mine at the forest behind their houses to play and smash against the ground, igniting the explosion.

"One girl and three boys aged from 3 to 13 were injured on stomachs, faces, hands and legs," he said.

He said the location is formerly the fighting zone during decades of war and mines are still scattered around the area.

The explosion happened in Phnom Prampi village, Chakry commune, Phnom Proek district of Battambang province, about 300 km northwest of capital Phnom Penh.

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

Mine/ERW (Explosive Remnants of War) killed 260 Cambodian people in the first eleven months this year, up 20 percent compared to the same period of last year's 217 casualties, according to the report from the Cambodian Mine/ERW Victim Information System obtained on Tuesday.