An ammunition explosion at a base in southwestern Cambodia killed 20 soldiers and injured many more, according to Prime Minister Hun Manet.
Hun Manet stated in a Facebook post on Saturday that he was “deeply shocked” to learn about the blast at the base in Kampong Speu province.
It was not immediately evident what caused it. Images from the area showed multiple heavily damaged buildings still smoldering, at least one with its roof blown off, and soldiers being treated at a hospital.
Four buildings three for storage and one for a work facility were demolished, and numerous military vehicles were damaged, according to Col. Youeng Sokhon, an army official on the scene, in a brief report to army leader Gen. Mao Sophan that was uploaded online.
He stated that 25 villagers’ homes had also been destroyed. Cambodia, like many other nations in the region, has been experiencing an extended heat wave, with the province where the bomb occurred reaching a high of 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday.
While high temperatures often do not ignite ammunition, they can weaken explosive stability over time, increasing the likelihood that a single minor explosion would start a fire and a chain reaction.
Photos of the base show it in a vast field, seemingly with no human structures nearby.
Hun Manet expressed condolences to the soldiers’ families and vowed that the government would pay for their funerals and compensate both the slain and the injured.
He graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point and served as army commander until being elected prime minister last year, succeeding his father Hun Sen, who led Cambodia for 38 years before retiring.
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