Dozens of foreign children held hostage in Cambodia
A 3-year-old Canadian boy was shot dead June 16 when four masked men held 28 kindergarten students and five teachers hostage for seven hours at the Siem Reap International School.
Have your says:
Interesting places where local people and foreigners living in Cambodia have their say on the recent tragedy.
After the tragedy:
SIEM REAP, Cambodia (Reuters) - A Canadian child and two gunmen were killed on Thursday as Cambodian troops and police stormed a school in the resort town of Siem Reap to end a six-hour siege near the Angkor Wat temples, police said.
- School siege ends, one child dead
- School raided for revenge, suspect says
- Boy Killed in Cambodia Hostage Standoff
- Cambodian Hostage Crisis Ends; Canadian Child Killed, CNN Says
- Cambodian school siege ends, one child dead
—
In the Tragedy:
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Gunmen stormed into a school in the Cambodian town of Siem Reap near Angkor Wat on Thursday and took 29 kindergarten pupils hostage, many of them the sons and daughters of expatriate hotel workers, a resident said.
The resident, who said she had seen a list of the children held, told Reuters the hostages were American, Irish, British, Australian, Singaporean, Canadian, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, Swiss, Indonesian, Indian, Italian and Filipino.
“The gunmen let one class go, but they are holding the kindergarten class,” the resident said.
June 18th, 2005 10:21
Tharum,
That is just awful .. horrible.
Do you have news on the motives or identify of the attackers?
June 20th, 2005 22:57
According to the AP (Associated Press), the South Korean boss literally slapped Chea Sokhom (the leader) for being late in taking his Korean kids to school. The boss humiliated him so the guy took revenge.
Knowing Koreans are short in temper. If the story is true, the court should charge the Korean boss for assaulted his employee. Had the boss treated his employee right, this thing wouldn’t have happened. Also Chea Sokhom shouldn’t take matter in his own hand. I said condemn him and also condemn the Korean.
======
Sunday, June 19, 2005 (Associated Press)
Their alleged leader, Chea Sokhom (search), used the handgun, their only weapon, to shoot the Canadian boy in the head because he would not stop crying, according to police.
Chea Sokhom earlier told interrogators he initially planned the raid as revenge against a South Korean man who employed him as a driver. He said he had been humiliated when his employer struck him in a fit of anger, so he quit and planned to kill the man’s two children, whom he used to drive to the school each day. The two children were unharmed.
June 21st, 2005 12:51
Again, a Khmer proverb says: Do never hurt a bull when you are angry with a cow. Ridiculous!