Cambodia discovers twin 200-kg chemical bombs dropped by U.S. during old war

Cambodia has discovered two chemical bombs, each weighing over 200 kg, which were dropped from a U.S. warplane in wartime half a century ago, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), said experts on chemical bombs had found the two bombs, typed Chlorobenzalmalononitrile (CS), under the ground in the complexes of a primary school and a pagoda in Koki village in southeastern Svay Rieng province.

"During the wartime, the U.S. had dropped four chemical bombs at the location. Two exploded and the two others did not explode and have existed until today," he told Xinhua.

"We need to evacuate people from the school and the pagoda, and villagers from the area for two or three days in order to remove the bombs," he said, adding that the removal operation would be conducted early next month.

Cambodia is one of the countries that suffer worst from mines and unexploded ordnances (UXOs), as a result of three decades of war and internal conflicts from the mid-1960s to 1998.

An estimated 4 to 6 million landmines and other munitions were left over from the conflicts.

According to CMAC, between 1965 and 1973, the United States dropped about 2.7 million tons of explosives on 113,716 locations in Cambodia.

Government figures showed that from 1979 to 2016, landmines and UXOs had killed 19,748 people and either injured or amputated 44,914 others. Endit