Cambodia Leader Blamed for Attack
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The Khmer Rouge guerrilla movement condemned a deadly grenade attack on opposition demonstrators in this capital over the weekend that killed at least 12, and blamed it on Second Prime Minister Hun Sen.
A Khmer Rouge spokesman said today on the guerrillas’ clandestine radio that the group “would like to condemn severely” the attack on a protest led by opposition leader Sam Rainsy, which injured more than 100 people.
The Khmer Rouge--which under Pol Pot killed millions of its countrymen in the 1970s--blamed Hun Sen for the attack and said it was aimed at “destroying” Rainsy, his Khmer Nation Party and his alliance with First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh.
Police said four grenades exploded Sunday morning in a crowd of up to 200 people demonstrating outside the National Assembly building in central Phnom Penh. The protest was organized by Rainsy against what he termed the subservience of the judiciary to Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party.
Rainsy also blamed the attack on Hun Sen.
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