PHNOM PENH, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia cleared 75,132 hectares of land contaminated with mines, cluster munitions, and remnants of war between January and June 2026, a mine clearance chief said on Thursday.
Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), shared the data on social media following a mid-year review meeting.
"During the first six months of 2026, the multi-skilled forces found and destroyed 20,861 pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and responded to 4,023 emergency requests from local citizens," he said.
Additionally, CMAC experts conducted 14,477 explosive ordnance risk education sessions for more than 1.3 million people, he added.
Cambodia remains one of the world's worst-affected countries by landmines and explosive remnants of war. An estimated 4 million to 6 million landmines and other munitions were left over from three decades of conflict that ended in 1998.
Furthermore, a border conflict with Thailand in 2025 left behind remnants of war, impacting nearly 387,206 hectares of land across six border provinces, according to Ratana.
Official records show that landmine and UXO explosions claimed 19,852 lives and injured or amputated 45,301 others between 1979 and June 2026.
The Southeast Asian nation is committed to clearing all landmines and UXO by 2030. ■
