Eleven-year-old Yeat Saly lies in a hospital bed, a piece of shrapnel lodged in his forehead -- one of the many injuries inflicted by an old mortar he found near his village in Cambodia.

Parts of the kingdom are still littered with unexploded ordnance from decades of conflict, but US President Donald Trump's decision to freeze virtually all American aid has forced many long-running projects to clear the deadly debris to grind a halt.

Villagers now fear for themselves and their children unless a way is found to keep removing the leftover landmines, mortars and other lethal munitions scattered across the countryside.

Yeat Saly was herding his cows outside his village in Tboung Khmum province on February 5 when he found a metal object by a rubber tree.

"I thought it was just a piece of metal. I threw it, then it exploded into a ball of flame," he told AFP from a hospital bed.

"A piece of shrapnel is still in here," he said, touching his forehead.

He is receiving treatment for injuries to both his legs and body at a hospital in Tboung........

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