Pokémon Go Players in Southeast Asia Have Been Warned to Avoid Land Mines

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The advice applies to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The U.S. State Department has warned players of Pokémon Go in Southeast Asia to be careful, in case they step on landmines and blow themselves up.

A tweet Tuesday, from the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, the State Department subdivision that coordinates with the Pentagon, read: “Playing #PokemonGo in #Cambodia #Laos #Vietnam? Beware of #landmines or anything that looks like an old bomb!”

The tweet used the hashtag #UXO — short for “unexploded ordnance,” a blanket term for various explosives that were utilized but never detonated. Attached to the tweet was a screenshot from Pokémon Go: a Pidgey in the foreground and an individual sweeping for mines behind it.

It is unclear why this tweet happened. It is also somewhat ironic: many of the unexploded ordnances in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam are there because of the U.S. forces that conducted war in the region half a century ago.

Source: TIME.com