Laos removes 88,000 unexploded bombs

Laos has received millions of dollars in funding for its Lao National Unexploded Ordnance Programme from the US, France, Canada and many other countries.

In an effort to destroy the communist insurgency in northeastern Laos during the Indo-China war that ended in 1975, the US military littered northeastern and eastern Laos with thousands of small bombs that only explode when stepped on or picked up by farmers and children.

The so-called 8220;bombies8221;, now hidden in the soil, continue to cause injuries to Lao peasants almost 25 years after the war ended. Laos opted for a communist regime in December 1975.