Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Thu, 7 Jan 1993 18:06:16 -0500
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      NEWS: UN says Khmer Rouge executed 14 villagers

12/29

U.N. says Khmer Rouge executed 14 villagers

        PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (UPI) -- Khmer Rouge guerrillas ``executed'' 14
villagers, including four children, and wounded another 14 in an
apparent racially motivated attack against ethnic Vietnamese, a U.N.
spokesman said Tuesday.
        About 24 guerrillas stormed into a village on the Tonle River in
central Cmabodia Sunday night, ordered villagers to identify those
suspected to be ethnic Vietnamese and then executed those identified,
said the spokesman for the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia
(UNTAC).
        UNTAC is overseeing implementation of a peace agreement signed in
Paris 14 months ago by Cambodia's four former warring factions,
including the radical Khmer Rouge.
        The Khmer Rouge dropped out of the peace process in June, refusing to
disarm its soldiers or allow U.N. troops into territory under its
control, until the UNTAC verifies the complete withdrawal of all
Vietnamese from Cambodia.
        Vietnam, which invaded Cambodia in December, 1978, and ousted a
brutal Khmer Rouge regime, officially withdrew the last of its troops in
September, 1989. But the Khmer Rouge claim some Vietnamese remained or
returned, although it has failed to produce evidence to back up the
charge.
        UNTAC spokesman Eric Berman said Sunday's attack occurred at Taches
village on the Tonle River in Kompong Tralach district of central
Kompong Chhnang Province, about 30 miles north of Phnom Penh.
        ``At 9.30 p.m., a group of (Khmer Rouge) soldiers believed to number
24 attacked Taches village,'' Berman told a press briefing. ``Fourteen
people were killed in the attack and another 14 people are believed to
have been injured.
        ``Twelve of the 14 -- including six females and six males -- were
ethnic Vietnamese. Two of the victims were Cambodian men and it's not
known if they were targeted or killed accidentally,'' the spokesman
said.
        ``The (Khmer Rouge) elements arrived in two boats, split into two
groups, asked the villagers to identify the Vietnamese, and those
identified were summarily executed,'' Berman said.
        A leaflet in Khmer language was found on the ground after the attack
and it appeared to give a warning to the Cambodian people, but further
details were not available, the spokesman said.
        ``There is strong evidence it was racially motivated. We are very
concerned,'' Berman said.
        He said government troops attempted to return fire on the retreating
attackers who ``may have suffered some casualties.''
        Several other attacks on ethnic Vietnamese have been blamed on the
Khmer Rouge, including one involving eight people and another involving
at least 11 victims.
        In July, two Vietnamese families, including a seven-day-old baby,
were slaughtered in Tukmeas village in Kampot province in what UNTAC
described as a ``gruesome crime.''
        The baby was ``smashed to the ground,'' a man was disemboweled and
other family members -- including four children aged between seven and 16
- -- were shot and killed.
        Khmer Rouge guerrillas also executed at least 11 Vietnamese fishermen
in Koh Kong, 140 miles west of Phnom Penh, in October. Another three men
missing from the same group are believed to have also been killed.
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