THE flag at the Phnom Penh headquarters of the International Committee of the Red

Cross (ICRC) remains at half mast today as staff mourn the brutal slaying of one

of their colleagues.

Thirty-six year old Chin Chun - an ICRC tracing officer and father of five - was

gunned down Jan 1 in Ampil district, Oddar Meanchey, as he returned home from delivering

messages to family members separated by Cambodia's civil war.

"We are not sure exactly what happened," said Friedrun Medert, the head

of Cambodia's ICRC delegation. "What we've heard from eye witnesses is he was

stopped by two men dressed in military fatigues.

"It seemed to the witnesses the two soldiers were asking for a ride, but shortly

afterwards they heard shots... and they found him dead, shot in the head, shoulder

and chest and the motorbike was gone.

"So it looks like a robbery, but a motorbike? That's no reason to blow someone

away..."

Medert said the ICRC was calling in all its tracing officers to review personal security

procedures.

"But there is only so many precautions they can take. There is always the drunken

soldier who just happens to be there," she said.

Chun was the first ICRC worker murdered in Cambodia but his death brings to ten the

number of Red Cross staff killed worldwide in the last 12 months.