Thailand clears landmines along border

CHANTABURI, June 8 (TNA) - Thai authorities have conducted a new de-mining operation along the border with Cambodia, as part of efforts to secure the common frontier in the wake of past battles. The Thai de-mining unit on Thursday, again, cleared buried landmines and other explosives found in Chantaburi Province, 245 kilometres east of Bangkok. The mission, which started in 2000, is aimed to clear all explosives left in the Thai-Cambodian border so that villagers of both sides can use the land for cultivating crops. According to Thailand's Peace, Security and Disarmament Division, at least 500,000 people have lived in the dangerous mine-plagued border area and more than 1,000 of them have been affected by the mines since 2004.(TNA)