Police have arrested two more Khmer Krom men for their alleged involvement in last month’s failed attempt to bomb the Vietnam-Cambodia friendship monument in Phnom Penh, police officials said Friday.
Chhay Sinarith, director of the Interior Ministry’s central information department, said the men were arrested in Kompong Speu province’s Phnom Sruoch district Thursday evening on warrants issued by Phnom Penh Municipal Court Investigating Judge Ke Sakhorn.
Chhay Sinarith said the two men were implicated in the monument bombing on Thursday by Sok Kim Sovath, a Khmer Krom man from Battambang province arrested Tuesday who police claim was the plot’s “ringleader.”
“After the court questioning [of Sok Kim Sovath], they were involved at the place that produced the explosives,” he said of the arrested men. “The suspects have confessed everything,” he added.
Chhay Sinarith said the two men —whose names he said he could not recall—would be sent to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Saturday. He added that Sok Kim Sovath had been charged by the court Thursday and was being detained in Prey Sar prison.
Ke Sakhorn could not be reached for comment and Phnom Penh Deputy Prosecutor Sok Roeun declined to comment.
Ma Saphon, police chief of Phnom Sruoch’s Treng Trayoeng commune, said the men were arrested mid-day Thursday by provincial and Interior Ministry police.
Soeung Senkaruna, an investigator for the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organization, said that the families of the two men had contacted his NGO looking for assistance, but declined to comment further on the arrests.
Thursday’s arrests bring the number of suspects detained for the failed bombing attempt to five—all of them Khmer Krom. The monument escaped unscathed during the July 29 attack, when a small explosive detonated but two larger devices failed to go off.
