Indonesian Logging Workers Released in Cambodia
12/29/97
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Headline: Indonesian Logging Workers Released in Cambodia
Source: Reuters
Date: 12/29/97
Copyright: 1997 Reuters Limited.
PHNOM PENH, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Two Indonesian logging company
representatives kidnapped during a deadly ambush in northeastern Cambodia
have been released after their employer paid $12,000 in ransom, a top
forestry official said on Monday.
Oar Soeun, director of the Forestry Department, said the Malaysian logging
firm GAT International Co Ltd had told him the two men had been released
unharmed on Friday after 10 days in captivity.
Oar Soeun said he believed Khmer Rouge guerrillas had been behind the
capture of the men, although the group has denied responsibility.
A GAT representative confirmed the men had been released but gave no
further details.
The two men and a Cambodian colleague, who was released last week, were
abducted on December 17 while travelling by car through their concession
area on the border of Kompong Thom and Kratie provinces, about 200 km (130
miles) northeast of Phnom Penh.
The three were ambushed in the forest by guerrillas, officials said. A
Cambodian bodyguard was shot dead and two people, including a Malaysian
company representative and a Cambodian man, were seriously wounded.
One car was destroyed by a B-40 rocket, they said.
``I am very concerned this kind of kidnapping will scare international
business people and investors, so we will cooperate with the Ministry of
Defence to protect investors,'' Oar Soeun said.
The Khmer Rouge guerrilla group, blamed for the deaths of at least a
million people during their 1970s ``killing fields'' rule, has been
weakened by splits and defections in recent years but continues to carry
out attacks in various parts of the country.
A British mine-clearing expert and his Cambodian assistant were seized by
gunmen thought to be Khmer Rouge guerrillas in the northwestern province
of Siem Reap last year.
Cambodia's forests are lawless and opposition politicians and
environmental groups say logging is out of control. Groups of gunmen
backed by powerful local business and military figures often cut timber
illegally in other companies' concession areas.