Preah Sihanouk Provincial Television reported on July 31 that Cambodian government representative Heng Ratana, Director General of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), said its aerial-bomb experts had inspected four blast craters and five sites where unexploded aerial bombs were buried. They also examined the craters formed on impact by the unexploded bombs.
Heng Ratana said the unexploded MK-84 bombs and their impact craters all resulted from Thai Air Force bombing during five days of fighting from July 24 to 28, 2025. He said the locations had not been bombed during the Indochina War and that CMAC holds historical bombing data supplied by the US State Department.
He said MK-series bombs have clear markings and identifiable origins, and that detailed records exist of F-16 flight data and the types of bombs dropped. He said an F-16 can carry four MK-84 bombs on a single sortie.
He also rejected claims by some people he described as acting in bad faith that the MK-84s were “old bombs.” He said the metal structure would have been badly corroded if the bombs were more than 50 years old. He described the blast craters and the impact craters left by unexploded bombs as physical evidence and said anyone with doubts could inspect them in person and invite international aerial-bomb experts to study and assess the sites.
Compiled by this station.
