PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Twenty soldiers were killed and several more wounded in an ammunition explosion at a base in western Cambodia on Saturday afternoon, Prime Minister Hun Manet said.
Hun Manet 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 the explosion and Hun Manet did not say so in his Facebook post.
He offered his condolences to the soldiers’ families and promised that the government would pay for their funerals and provide compensation to both the dead and the wounded.
Images from the scene showed a destroyed building still burning and soldiers receiving treatment in a hospital.
Hun Manet, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, was promoted to four-star general shortly before being elected prime minister, succeeding his autocratic father Hun Sen.