2 Cambodian toddlers die after buried grenade explodes

Two Cambodian toddlers died when a rocket-propelled grenade believed buried since the country’s civil war blew up near their homes, an official said on Sunday.

The explosion happened on Saturday in a remote village in northwestern Siem Reap province that was once a battle site for Cambodian government soldiers and Khmer Rouge fighters in the 1980s and 1990s.

The children who died were cousins – a boy and a girl who were both two years old.

“According to an investigation report, the two toddlers were playing on the ground, digging the soil and may have hit (the grenade) with an object that caused the explosion,” said Heng Ratana, director general of the government’s Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC).

He said one child was killed instantly while the other died in hospital.

“The war has completely ended and there has been peace for more than 25 years, but the blood of Cambodian people continues to flow because of landmines and the remnants of war,” Heng Ratana added.

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