PHNOM PENH, Jan 26: A meteorite weighing 4.5kgs landed in a former Khmer Rouge zone of north western Cambodia earlier this week, starting fires across rice fields and prayers from villagers who saw it as a divine omen of peace.

"Some farmers are angry with the rock because it caused fires and destroyed several hundred hectares of their paddy fields," said Sok Sareth, police chief of Banteay Meanchey province, around 300kms north west of the capital, Phnom Penh.

"But others asked the police to leave it where it landed and put it on shrine to pray for peace," he said. The black lump of celestial rock sent villagers scurrying for cover when it thumped into the ground in the war-scarred south east Asian nation. -Reuters