An arrest was made yesterday after an 11-year-old girl was raped and killed in Kampong Cham province.

The girl had attended a dance in Sre Kchach village, Tamper commune, Dambae district, on Tuesday night.

She went missing and her naked body was discovered in a cassava farm yesterday morning, police said.

She was covered in blood and had a head injury.

It is thought her head was hit against a tree.

Kampong Cham province’s Dambae district police have arrested a man suspected of the murder, said District Deputy Governor Soy Sophat.

Soy Sophat said that the suspect was thought to be a former gang member from the village.

“We always go down to educate the villagers who live in the remote areas about the law and to be careful with their safety,” Soy Sophat said.

He said police made the arrest after an eyewitness claimed to have seen the suspect leading the victim from the dance to a location about 200 metres away.

A police official, who declined to be named, said yesterday that the suspect had been detained in the district police office following the arrest.

Officials are believed to be searching for another suspect.

Loeung Ratha, Damber district police chief, declined to give more information.

In a separate case in Prey Veng province, district police are still searching for a man accused of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl last Saturday.

Sithor Kandal District Police Chief Yun Sokneth said yesterday: “I am searching to arrest the suspect that I have identified.”

The 13-year-old girl’s body was found by family members floating in pond on Sunday.

The family had conducted a desperate search for the youngster after she failed to come home after tending to her cattle in a rice field.