Cambodia Tests Rockets

KAMPONG CHHNANG (Cambodia) - CAMBODIA'S military mounted a rare public test of rockets on Thursday amid a lingering troop standoff over disputed territory with neighbouring Thailand.

In their first public drill since the country's civil war ended over a decade ago, Cambodian troops fired some 200 rockets from truck-mounted rocket launchers at an airfield 180km from the Thai border.

However defence ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat told AFP the display was 'not about flexing our muscles' against Thailand. 'The drill is not a threat or a show of force against neighbouring countries or foreign countries,' Mr Chhum Socheat said before the rockets were fired in front of assembled media and top brass.