Masked gunmen seized dozens of children at an international school in northwestern Cambodia yesterday, killing a three-year-old Canadian boy and threatening to shoot the others one-by-one before police rescued the remaining hostages, police and government officials said.
The attackers stormed Siem Reap International School yesterday morning, taking students from several countries hostage and demanding money, weapons and a vehicle before police ended the six-hour standoff, taking four gunmen into custody, at least one of whom was wounded.
The gunmen shot the boy when authorities declined to meet all of their demands, then "threatened to kill the other children one by one," said Information Minister Khieu Kanharith, quoting the deputy national police chief, Neth Savoeun.
Dozens of police stormed the school compound as the hostage takers tried to flee in a van, but police intercepted the vehicle, smashing windows and arresting them. Nearly 40 children, some as young as two, ran into the arms of their panic-stricken parents.
"I'm very relieved," said Singaporean Tan Seok Ho, who rushed to the school when she heard about the crisis from a friend. Her youngest child was among those taken and released unharmed. "I'm happy to have him back in my arms again."
The crisis unfolded at Cambodia's tourism hub of Siem Reap, near its famed Angkor temples and home to many expatriates, and quickly drew concern from governments around the region. The town has many establishments serving the international tourist trade, and children from at least 15 nations attend the school.
The identity of the attackers was not clear, even after the standoff ended. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said they appeared to be security guards at the school, but police later said teachers did not recognize them.
The men originally took about 70 people but later released 30 of them, Khieu Kanharith said.
They "were armed with shotguns" and had demanded money, six AK-47 assault rifles, six shotguns, grenade launchers, hand grenades and a car, said Deputy Military Police Commander Prak Chanthoeum, adding that three teachers were among those seized.
He later said US$30,000 and a van were given to the gunmen, but they still refused to free the hostages and continued to demand guns and grenades.
Police initially said there were six attackers, but later put the number at four and said all had been arrested. They said the hostage takers were 22 to 25 years old, and were from the southeastern province of Kandal.
Denis Richer, a Frenchman who said he teaches at another school in the booming tourist town, said that he saw one of the attackers laying wounded on the ground after police ended the siege.
A Western resident in Siem Reap, who requested anonymity, said she was told by a teacher at the school that the children, most of them aged two to six, came from Taiwan, Cambodia, Italy, Indonesia, South Korea, the US, Japan, Ireland, Singapore, the UK, Australia, Canada, the Philippines, Thailand and Switzerland.
Khieu Kanharith described the boy who was shot as a three-year-old Canadian.
Embassy officials could not immediately confirm that, but a witness who knew the child also identified him as Canadian.
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
A former television news host and six military personnel — active and retired — have been indicted on espionage charges, Kaohsiung prosecutors said yesterday. Lin Chen-you (林宸佑), a former CTi News host and YouTuber, last year allegedly made videos at the direction of a Chinese agent criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party’s recall campaign, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office told a news conference in Kaohsiung. He allegedly received 4,325 tether coins for the videos from an unidentified person surnamed Huang (黃), believed to be an agent of a hostile foreign power, they said. Lin, also known as Ma Te (馬德), has a show named
RSS