Blast from civil war grenade kills two toddlers playing

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 yesterday.

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 officials. One child was killed instantly while another died in hospital, officials added.

The accident comes after Cambodia was forced to partially suspend demining operations for several weeks when Washington suddenly halted funding following President Donald Trump's order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days.

But on Friday last week, Cambodian officials said deminers were to resume clearing unexploded munitions, after the United States granted a waiver to keep funding the work in the country.

Agence France-Presse