Land mine left over from Cambodian conflict kills 8 farmers on tractor

By Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Eight farmers have died after their tractor ran over an anti-tank mine left over from Cambodia’s 1980s civil war.

The head of the Cambodian Mines Action Center, Heng Ratana, says two others were seriously injured Friday when the mine exploded as the farmers traveled to a cassava field in Banteay Meanchey province, 190 miles (300 kilometers) northwest of Phnom Penh.

He says the area was the site of intense battles between the communist Khmer Rouge and government forces in the 1980s and early 1990s. Deminers face the task of removing an estimated 4 to 6 million land mines and other ordnance still left from more than three decades of conflict.

Heng Ratana says about 200 Cambodians were killed or wounded by mines last year.

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