PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Two men have lost their legs after stepping on land mines planted years ago by Khmer Rouge guerrilla fighters to protect a residence of their late leader Pol Pot during the decades of intermittent civil war in northwestern Cambodia, a police officer said Friday.
Yort Ray, deputy district police chief in Banteay Meanchey province, about 310 kilometers (192 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, identified the victims as Sorn Sim, 33, and Smok Chheang, 43. They were maimed in two separate explosions Wednesday and Thursday and were receiving treatment at a provincial hospital.
The men were cutting firewood in a jungle near the Thai border, where Pol Pot, the former Khmer Rouge leader who presided over the deaths of some 1.7 million people during the group's brutal rule from 1975 until their ouster by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979, resided when he was still leading his guerrillas during the 1980s, he said. He died in 1998.
The area also used to harbor a warehouse for logistic supplies and ammunition, and the Khmer Rouge fighters planted land mines to protect it and Pol Pot's residence, Yort Rai said. The two men ignored land mine warning signs to collect wood for sale.
Land mines laid by former warring Cambodian factions during three decades of civil war continue to maim or kill many people every year despite a major clearing effort. Pol Pot had houses at different locations along the Cambodian border with Thailand, the Khmer Rouge's stronghold before the movement crumbled in the late 1990s.
Yort Ray, deputy district police chief in Banteay Meanchey province, about 310 kilometers (192 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, identified the victims as Sorn Sim, 33, and Smok Chheang, 43. They were maimed in two separate explosions Wednesday and Thursday and were receiving treatment at a provincial hospital.
The men were cutting firewood in a jungle near the Thai border, where Pol Pot, the former Khmer Rouge leader who presided over the deaths of some 1.7 million people during the group's brutal rule from 1975 until their ouster by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979, resided when he was still leading his guerrillas during the 1980s, he said. He died in 1998.
The area also used to harbor a warehouse for logistic supplies and ammunition, and the Khmer Rouge fighters planted land mines to protect it and Pol Pot's residence, Yort Rai said. The two men ignored land mine warning signs to collect wood for sale.
Land mines laid by former warring Cambodian factions during three decades of civil war continue to maim or kill many people every year despite a major clearing effort. Pol Pot had houses at different locations along the Cambodian border with Thailand, the Khmer Rouge's stronghold before the movement crumbled in the late 1990s.
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