Hostages involved in spying: Papers

Hostages involved in spying: Papers

BANGKOK (Reuter): Thai newspapers on Saturday quoted the country's army chief as suggesting that three Western hostages abducted by Cambodia's Khmer Rouge guerrillas and later killed had been involved in espionage.

Gen. Wimol Wongwanich, army commander-in-chief, angrily denied accusations by Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans that Thai businessmen and some soldiers gave logistical support to the rebel Khmer Rouge, the papers said.

The Cambodian government blames the Khmer Rouge for the murder of an Australian, a Briton and a Frenchman, whose bodies were found in southern Cambodia this month.

"Are you going to believe me or foreigners? The Australian's death is a spies-kill-spies matter. Maybe they think we don't know anything," The Nation quoted Wimol as telling reporters.