PHNOM PENH, Cambodia. An ammunition explosion at a base in southwest Cambodia on Saturday afternoon, killed 20 soldiers and wounded several others, the prime minister said Hun Manet.
Hun Manet He said in a Facebook post that he was “deeply shocked” when he received news of the explosion at the base in Kampong Speu province. It was not immediately clear what caused it.
Images from the scene showed several badly damaged buildings still smoldering, at least one with its roof blown off, and soldiers receiving treatment in a hospital. Other photos showed houses with holes in the roofs.
Colonel Youeng Sokhon, an army officer at the scene, stated in a brief report to army chief General Mao Sophan, posted on social media, that four buildings – three for storage and one for work – were destroyed and several military vehicles were damaged. He added that the homes of 25 villagers were also damaged.
Cambodia, like many countries in the region, is suffering from a prolonged heat wave, and the province where the explosion occurred recorded a high temperature of 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday. Although high temperatures cannot normally detonate ammunition, they can degrade the stability of explosives over a period of time, with the risk that a single small explosion could trigger a fire and a chain reaction.
Kiripost, an English-language online news service, quoted a nearby resident as saying that a large explosion occurred around 2:30 p.m., followed by smaller explosions for another hour.
Pheng Kimneang said the windows of a nearby factory were shattered and some houses less than a kilometer away suffered minor damage. Photos of the base show a large field, apparently with no civilian structures nearby.
Hun Manet offered his condolences to the soldiers’ families and promised that the government would pay for their funerals and compensate both the dead and the wounded.
Graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point, he was an army commander before being elected prime minister last year, succeeding his father Hun Sen, who led Cambodia for 38 years before resigning.
