Illegal loggers kill soldier in Cambodia
Date: 14-May-03
Country: CAMBODIA
Peov Sidon, deputy police chief of northwestern Banteay Meanchey province, said around 30 loggers opened fired at the weekend on troops patrolling a remote stretch of jungle in a wildlife sanctuary near the border with Thailand.
The death of the soldier was the first in such a clash for several years.
"The armed loggers sprayed bullets on us as we were patrolling in the jungle," Peov Sidon told Reuters yesterday.
A villager was also killed and a policeman and boy were wounded in the shoot-out that followed the confiscation of eight tractors loaded with sawn logs.
Cambodia is keen to be seen to be curbing illegal deforestation after it ended a fractious relationship with independent forest monitor Global Witness.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has stressed the need to enforce a logging moratorium and protect the country's forests.
