Border contro

AT least one Cambodian died and another three were injured after being reportedly shot by Thai soldiers who caught them logging across the border.

Oddar Meanchey provincial governor Pech Sokhen said yesterday a group of Cambodian loggers had entered Thailand on Friday. According to “preliminary information”, one had been killed and three others injured in the encounter, including an   unknown number of loggers.

Authorities were still investig-ating the case, Pech Sokhen said.

Pok Sophal, an army comman-der based in Oddar Meanchey’s Trapaing Prasat district, said yesterday soldiers at the border had seen between 30 and 40 people fleeing from Thailand.

Srey Naren, Oddar Meanchey provincial co-ordinator for the rights group Adhoc, said yesterday he had heard unofficial reports that five people had been killed, but added that his office was still investigating.

During a visit to Cambodia in December, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong made a request   to then-Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya that Thai soldiers stop firing on Cambodians suspected of logging illegally.

Officials in Thailand could not be reached yesterday.