War-left U.S. aerial bomb safely removed in Cambodian capital's NW suburb: official

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC)'s expert team on Tuesday safely removed a war-left U.S.-made MK-82 aerial bomb from an area on the northwestern suburb of Phnom Penh, a mine clearance chief said.

CMAC's Director-General Heng Ratana said the team discovered the unexploded bomb and safely transported it to the CMAC's disposal center.

"Buried underground for over 50 years, but it looks fine for both shape and quality," he announced the find on social media. "Today, in Prek Pnov district on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, a CMAC's Explosive Remnants of War expert team safely removed and transported this aerial bomb."

Ratana said the MK-82 aerial bomb weighed around 230 kg.

Cambodia is one of the world's worst-affected countries suffered from mines and unexploded ordnances (UXOs) as the results of three decades of war and internal conflicts from the mid-1960s until 1998. An estimated 4 million to 6 million land mines and other munitions were left over from the conflicts.

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

A Cambodian government's report showed that from 1979 to June 2023, landmine and explosive remnants of war explosions had killed 19,821 people and either injured or amputated 45,205 others in the Southeast Asian country.