Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) has uncovered almost 500 unexploded ordnances (UXO) in a coffee plantation in Pakxong district, Champasak province, southern Laos, according to a report published on Thursday 5 September 2025 in Manager Online. The organization said the clearance operation at Ban Lak 45 revealed 488 unexploded “Bombies” — small submunitions from cluster bombs — along with seven 60-mm mortar shells. Most of the items were identified as cluster munitions, weapons banned by many countries under the Convention on Cluster Munitions because of the long-lasting danger they pose to civilians. Cluster bombs scatter hundreds of small submunitions over a wide area. The United States dropped vast quantities of cluster munitions over Laos during the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.