Cambodian police arrest hostage "mastermind"

CAMBODIA - Cambodian police have arrested a security guard suspected of masterminding the hostage-taking at a school near the Angkor Wat temples in which gunmen shot dead a Canadian toddler, officials said on Friday.

The guard, 29-year-old Ul Samnang, worked at a souvenir shop and did not take an active part in the hostage drama at the international school in Siem Reap, Phoeng Chenda, the town's police chief, told Reuters.

The four hostage takers, all Cambodians in their 20s who were seized as they tried to escape at the end of an eight-hour siege, were also being held for questioning in the tourist town 200km northwest of Phnom Penh and the gateway to the famous Angkor Wat temples.

Visible through the window of the police station, the suspects were handcuffed and in their underwear. Bruises could be seen on their faces and one had stitches across his forehead.

The men, armed with a handgun and knives, stormed into the school, first demanding US$1000 ($1402) and a van, increasing the sum later to US$30,000, police said. The two-year-old Canadian boy was shot in the head in the opening moments of the siege and 29 other children and their teacher were held at gunpoint.

An eerie calm had settled on Friday morning on the dirt road leading to the school which had been packed the previous day with soldiers and police, distraught parents and onlookers.

Around 20 military policemen stood guard in front of the school and police said security had been stepped up at all tourist locations across the booming town to ensure the safety of foreigners.

"This incident has forced us to improve security, not only at hotels but also guest houses and restaurants where foreigners are," said provincial police chief Noun Bophal. "This is a lesson for us."

Authorities in the deeply impoverished country, which is still awash with weapons after decades of war, including the Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s, ruled out terrorism.

"It is an act of revenge or armed robbery," the province's deputy governor, Ung Oeun, told reporters after questioning the suspects.

Doctors at the town's main hospital said they were setting up a trauma unit for the 29 children from as many as 14 different countries who had had to endure the ordeal.

"Some of these children will be traumatised for a long time," said Georges Dallemagne of Siem Reap Hospital. "It's important that this be set up as soon as possible so the children can talk about their experience and say what they feel." The violence left the hundreds of expatriates in the sleepy town in shock and raised a question mark over the future of the country's key tourism industry.

"Siem Reap is a lovely place. Everyone here is shocked and horrified because you don't expect something like this to happen here," said Briton Karl Balch, who has lived in Siem Reap for six years, running the Ivy Bar and Guesthouse.

"The expat community is going to be severely affected by this, but to Khmers, it's just another day," said David Cowled, an aid agency worker in the town.

- REUTERS