PHNOM PENH (AP) - Khmer Rouge (KR) guerrillas attacked a group of Pakistani U.N.
peacekeepers May 8 in Preah Vihear, injuring one soldier before being driven off
with mortar and small arms fire, U.N. military sources said.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Pakistani soldier was
only slightly injured when his group's position came under fire at about 5 a.m. They
said the Pakistani troops responded immediately and drove off the guerrillas within
three hours.
Eleven U.N. personnel have died in a score of direct attacks in the past six weeks.
U.N. spokesman Eric Berman confirmed fighting had taken place for two days in several
districts around the Pakistani unit. He declined to give further details.
The KR is the prime suspect in most of the recent attacks. The guerrilla group is
boycotting U.N.-supervised elections set for May 23-28, and is suspected of trying
to scare people from the polls.
But a KR spokesman on May 7 denied that the group had attacked U.N. personnel, blaming
instead the Phnom Penh government.
The attack on the Pakistani unit came just five days after 300 Khmer Rouge guerrillas
raided the capital of neighboring Siem Reap province in the most serious attack since
the U.N. mission began a year ago.
In other incidents, a U.N. civilian police officer from the Philippines suffered
a fatal heart attack early May 7 during in an attack in the Southwestern province
of Kompong Speu, and on May 4, a Japanese U.N. policeman died in a ambush in the
Northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey.
A Japanese cabinet minister arrived in Cambodia May 11 to discuss safety measures
for Japanese peacekeepers. Japan's participation in the mission is being questioned
anew by those who say it violates Japan's war-renouncing constitution.
