Thai agency accuses Cambodian forces of planting new landmines

The Thai Mine Action Centre (TMAC) has condemned Cambodia for continuing to lay PMN-2 anti-personnel landmines along the common border, in brazen violation of the Ottawa Convention and the peace agreement between the two countries.

Colonel Siwa Whang-akat, spokesman for the TMAC, claimed today that there is clear evidence that the PMN-2 landmine which blew the right leg off Pvt.

Narin Ngaopra yesterday, a rifleman attached to the 112th infantry company of the 12th infantry battalion, was freshly laid by retreating Cambodian forces at Satta Som Mountain in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket province.

He claimed that Thai soldiers, who combed the scene of the detonation, found several items left behind by Cambodian troops, including a notepad outlining the GPS locations of the landmines and the numbers of landmines being distributed to its troops for laying, adding that there are still many mines which are yet to be defused.