On the morning of Thursday, 15 January 2026, at the CMAC Community Development Center in Battambang Province, H.E. Heng Ratana, Delegate of the Royal Government in charge as Director General of CMAC, met with operational personnel and officially launched the “Integrated Mine Clearance and Victim Assistance (Phase III)” project. This project is supported by grant assistance from the Government of Japan to the Royal Government of Cambodia to support mine clearance and post-clearance community development, under the project entitled “The Project for Mine Clearance for Peace and Sustainable Development in the Southwestern Region of Cambodia.”

The project aims to clear 4,939 hectares of land contaminated by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), directly benefiting approximately 27,012 families, while also providing indirect benefits to a large number of communities across Pursat, Battambang, and Koh Kong provinces, and responding to urgent intervention requests in Pailin Province. The project will deploy an operational force of 22 teams, comprising 303 personnel, 18 Mine Detection Dogs (MDDs), and 33 vehicles. The force is organized into two units: Demining Unit 2 (DU2) with 10 teams, and Demining Unit 3 (DU3) with 12 teams. It should be noted that from 2020 to 2025, the PIMV3 project cleared a total area of 166 hectares. During this period, CMAC teams discovered and destroyed 30,468 anti-personnel mines, 207 anti-tank mines, 11 improvised mines, 11 aerial bombs, 9 cluster submunitions, and more than 51,000 other items of unexploded ordnance (UXO).

Furthermore, Battambang Province has been affected by strikes from Thailand. Based on reports from the district administrations of Banan, Phnom Proek, and Sampov Loun, regarding bombs and artillery shells dropped by the Thai military, Demining Unit 2 (DU2) deployed Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and Technical Survey (TS) specialists to investigate, collect evidence, and define the extent of affected areas from 6 to 9 January 2026. • Banan District: One location identified containing five craters caused by exploded MK82 aircraft bombs, which have been cordoned off and marked with warning signs. • Sampov Loun District: 94 target locations identified and marked, including four locations with surface-found ordnance, one location with sub-surface ordnance, and 89 explosion craters.

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