Cambodian bombings linked to Hong Kong crime syndicates
Cambodian bombings linked to Hong Kong crime syndicates
PHNOM PENH (Agencies): Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on
Thursday blamed a bomb strike that left three people dead on
"terrorists" while a leading royalist linked the attack to Hong
Kong organized crime syndicates.
"I think the Hong Kong Hotel was involved with the mafia from
Hong Kong," Prince Norodom Ranariddh, chairman of the National
Assembly, said.
An initial bomb exploded at the Hong Kong Hotel and Restaurant
on Wednesday, along the Cambodian capital's busiest street
Monivong Boulevard, but the area had been evacuated after police
reacted to a tip-off.
As police cordoned off the area and people gathered at the
scene, a second bomb exploded about 100 meters away at the Hotel
Favour.
Ranariddh did not detail any further links with Hong Kong but
added: "I think it (the bombing) was not because of political
reasons."
He told journalists the blast would affect the prestige of
Cambodia."Some investors and tourists will worry and I have urged
the government to investigate as soon as possible."
Earlier Prime Minister Hun Sen said he suspected terrorists
were behind the blasts but stressed the damage paled when
compared with other countries.
He referred to the Oklahoma bombing in the United States,
which six years ago left 168 people dead, as an example.
"Cambodia doesn't have any more wars. There is nobody who will
come to burn or destroy (Cambodia) again. But yesterday there was
a terrorist act which seems to have the intention of taking
revenge," he told villagers in Kampong Speu province, west of
Phnom Penh.
Three people died, including a police officer, and at least 11
people were injured after bombs ripped through two Khmer-owned
hotels. Police linked the strikes to a series of extortion
demands, one for $100,000.
He declined to say who may have been responsible for
Wednesday's bombings.
Phnom Penh police chief Suon Chheangly told AFP on Thursday
that investigations had uncovered several clues but he decline to
give further details saying this would jeopardize police efforts.
He confirmed a man claiming to represent a group called
"Maria" had made a series of demands to police and the hotels in
several telephone calls leading up to the bombings.
In another development, Cambodia's royalist FUNCINPEC party on
Thursday named Prince Norodom Sirivudh, who was convicted of
plotting to kill Hun Sen in 1995, as its secretary-general.
At a ceremony marking his appointment, former foreign minister
Sirivudh called for continued cooperation between FUNCINPEC and
Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP).
"I am happy to be the secretary-general again. I promise that
I will follow and support the policies of the party," he said in
a speech.
"We need cooperation between the two big parties, CPP and
FUNCINPEC, for national reconciliation and to have security and
political stability in order to develop the country," said
Sirivudh.
The prince, half-brother of King Norodom Sihanouk, was
secretary-general of the party when Hun Sen accused him of
plotting to assassinate him in 1995.
Sirivudh denied any plan to kill the then Second Prime
Minister Hun Sen. The accusation, and Sirivudh's conviction, came
as relations between uneasy coalition partners FUNCINPEC and Hun
Sen's CPP were rapidly breaking down.
The prince was allowed to leave the country and was sentenced
in absentia to 10 years in prison. He lived in exile before
returning in 1999 under a royal amnesty granted by the king.
Sirivudh is popular among FUNCINPEC members who believe he
will recharge the party, the junior member of the current
coalition government.