SHOTS were fired at a Phnom Penh to Siem Reap passenger boat twice in two days

this month, according to foreign tourists on board.

Canadian Monty

Posliff, 26, said he was on the boat returning to Phnom Penh on Jan 5 when it

was approached by a smaller, wooden boat, while entering the Tonle Sap Lake.

The other boat, with a gun mounted on its front, fired four volleys of

two shots each. One of the bullets struck the passenger craft.

The

gunboat drew up to the passenger boat and an armed man in military uniform

boarded it.

Posliff said four policemen on the Siem Reap boat grabbed

their guns but ducked down for cover.

He and three other foreigners on

board the boat hid, afraid the gunman might be looking for overseas tourists.

The gunman spoke to the owner for several minutes before leaving.

Another

tourist, Michael Airey, said a similar incident occurred the previous day when

he was traveling on the Siem Reap boat.

He said uniformed men from

another boat, which he described similarly to the one Posliff spoke of, fired

fours shots before boarding it and demanding $100 from the owner.

He did

not know whether money passed hands but was under the impression that it had.

The Siem Reap passenger boats, which foreign embassies advice tourists

not to travel on, have been the subject of similar attacks in the past.