PHNOM PENH: A POLICE officer lost his leg after he stepped on an anti-personnel mine which was buried near a temple in Preah Bihear province.
According to the Khmer Times, Deputy Chief of Choam Khsan district Police Major Lon Soeum, said the incident occurred at 4.30pm last Friday.
The mine was buried next to the steps to Preah Vihear Temple in Kantuot commune, Choam Khsant district.
The victim was identified as Captain Nuon Thoeun, 46, a police officer working with the National Border Police.
Soeum said Thoeun, who was on duty, went to urinate by the stairs of the temple when the anti-personal mine exploded.
"He went to urinate near the site where he was on duty.
"He stepped on an anti-personnel mine believed to have been planted during the Thai-Cambodia border dispute in 2007,"
he told Khmer Times.
"The mine exploded and caused serious injuries to both his legs.
"His left leg had to be removed due to the damage sustained."
Thoeun said that after hearing the explosion, colleagues nearby came to his rescue and sent him immediately to Preah Vihear provincial hospital, where he is still receiving treatment.
In July, a 35-year-old farmer died after losing both legs when an anti-tank-mine exploded while he was driving his tractor to clear a two-hectare mango farm in Battambang province in Ratanak Mondul district's Tbeng commune.
Earlier this year, the Australian government provided US$10 million for landmine clearing in the Kingdom.
The aid was announced when new Australian Ambassador to Cambodia Pablo Chiho Kang met Foreign Affairs Minister Prak Sokhonn in February at the ministry.
Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said the aid would help the kingdom to achieve its mine-free goal by 2025.