Pailin provincial police are on the lookout for a suspect who made and placed nearly a dozen explosive devices under a bridge in Pailin town. It is yet unclear if it was an attempt to destroy the bridge.

Pailin town’s police chief Yem Sarith said on Thursday that authorities were mounting an investigation into the case, but so far had found no suspects.

“We have not identified the target yet. Sometimes, they might use [explosives] for fishing as well,” he said.

The explosives were discovered by locals at 5:30pm on Tuesday under the bridge near a mosque in the town’s eponymous commune and alerted police.

Experts at the scene found 13 separate canisters, four lengths of fuse and a plastic bag with additional explosives.

Sarith speculated that the devices could have been placed to cause chaos during the election campaign, stating that 11 different parties were on the ballot in Pailin.

However, he said: “The bridge is far away [from buildings] and none of the party teams has crossed it [during their election campaign marches]”.