Assassins trained in Kingdom?

via CAAI

Sunday, 19 September 2010 23:56 Cheang Sokha and Cameron Wells

CAMBODIAN officials have rejected claims made in a Thai media report that a group of men suspected of involvement in a potential assassination attempt on Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had been trained in Cambodia.

On Friday, an article in the daily newspaper The Nation quoted Thai metropolitan police commissioner Santhan Chayanont as saying that a group of Cambodian-trained “men in black” were staking out Abhisit’s residence from a nearby condominium.

It also said former deputy permanent secretary of defence Bannawit Kengrien had reported hearing of an assassination plot, and that “a large number of Cambodian warriors of Vietnamese descent, who had undergone military training and were great snipers, had been brought in to do the job”.

“Although I often criticise this government, I must warn the premier about the reports of an assassination plot against him,” Bannawit was quoted as saying. “If he were harmed, the country’s image would be ruined.”

But Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said yesterday there was no official information to back up suggestions that Cambodia was involved in training would-be assassins.

“The Thai government should apprehend the suspects and show evidence,” he said. “Cambodia officially rejects this unruly information.”

He said Thai government officials were in the habit of disseminating baseless claims. ...read the full story in tomorrow’s Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story in online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours. (New York 4AM, Los Angeles 1AM, Chicago 3AM, Paris 10AM, Toronto 4AM, Sydney 6PM, Bejing 4PM, Tokyo 5PM, London 9AM, Johannesburg 10AM, Riyadh 11AM, Mumbai 1:30 PM)