[news] Pol Pot surrounded by his own army

[Dam Son <son@fermi.phys.washington.edu>]

PHNOM PENH, June 14 (Reuter) - Reviled Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot was
surrounded and under attack by 1,000 rebels from his own army in the
Cambodian jungle on Saturday, senior Cambodian military officials said. 

They said sporadic fighting had taken place among the divided Khmer Rouge
guerrillas during the day but had no details. 

Deputy chief of general staff Nhiek Bun Chhay told a news conference Pol
Pot was in rough jungle terrain about 20 km (12 miles) east of Anlong Veng
with about 250 to 300 loyal fighters and their families. His forces were
holding at least three senior Khmer Rouge officials as hostages, he said. 

Some 1,000 Khmer Rouge fighters who have broken with Pol Pot and defected
to the Cambodian government had surrounded the group, he said, adding his
information came from Khmer Rouge officials around Anlong Veng. 

But Thailand's army chief warned that reports about Pol Pot could be
politically motivated and should be handled with caution. 

"This is also one of the reports that you have to be cautious about,
because the report may have been leaked out to benefit one party and
discredit another," General Chetta Thanajaro said in Bangkok. 

Pol Pot fled Anlong Veng after murdering his defence chief Son Sen and 11
of his family members on June 10, Nhiek Bun Chhay said, echoing an
announcement made by First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh on
Friday. 

He said missing Briton Christopher Howes was also with the group. Howes
and his Cambodian translator, Houn Hourth, were abducted on March 26 last
year while conducting mine clearance operations in northern Cambodia. 

Cambodia's Second Prime Minister Hun Sen told the news conference however
he thought Howes was dead. 

Pol Pot, who reigned over Cambodia's "killing fields," has not been seen
in public since 1979 and rumours about him are rife. 

More than one million Cambodians died during the Khmer Rouge's brutal
1975-79 rule through executions, starvation, disease and hard labour. 

Hun Sen cast doubt on reports that Pol Pot had taken his top comrades,
including front man and nominal leader Khieu Samphan, hostage. 

"I don't believe Khieu Samphan is a hostage of Pol Pot because Khieu
Samphan served Pol Pot for a long time," Hun Sen said. Khieu Samphan is
president of the guerrillas' provisional government. 

The Maoist Khmer Rouge, which reneged on a 1991 peace pact meant to end
Cambodia's long history of conflict, has been fighting the coalition
government formed after polls in 1993. 

But it has been weakened by thousands of defections since last August and
fewer than 2,000 fighters are thought still at large. 

Nhiek Bun Chhay produced enlarged photographs apparently of Khmer Rouge
defence chief Son Sen, his wife Yun Yat and other family members said to
have been murdered by Pol Pot this week. 

The face of the man said to be Son Sen was frozen in a grimace, the head
punctured by a bullet hole. 

Another photograph showed the crumpled corpse of a woman said was Son
Sen's wife, lying in a pool of blood. Others showed more bodies sprawled
in the forest, some with deep head wounds. 

Nhiek Bun Chhay said Pol Pot was holding former right-hand man Nuon Chea
and northern commander Ta Mok hostage, as well as Khieu Samphan. 

Pol Pot had destroyed the rebels' their clandestine radio station, he
said. It fell silent on Friday and Saturday. 

Nhiek Bun Chhay said the government and the breakaway rebels now
surrounding Pol Pot wanted him taken alive. 

Hun Sen told reporters government troops had no immediate plans to join
the fighting. 

"We are sitting on a high mountain looking down on the two tigers until
they become seriously wounded and then they will be easily captured," he
said.