Extra police in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh have been deployed to patrol near hotels, embassies and other locations used by foreigners in response to Thursday’s coordinated attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai, police said, adding that the move was entirely precautionary.
“I deployed police forces early in the morning on Thursday to special points when I heard the information about India,” Phnom Penh Municipal Police Chief Touch Naruth said. Those forces include military and penal police patrols around hotels and areas where foreigners work, such as embassies, he said.
Siem Reap Provincial Police Chief Soath Nordy said extra police were patrolling near hotels in the country’s main tourist town, but he also declined to reveal details.
“We have enough police to safeguard security,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak, noting that vigilance was key.
“If we forget [about attacks] then it will happen,” he warned.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday condemned the Mumbai attacks as an “inhuman and cruel act of terrorism” in a letter addressed to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“On this sorrow occasion, I would like to convey, through Your Excellency, my most profound condolences and sympathy to the government and people of India, especially the bereaved families,” Hun Sen wrote in his letter. Hun Sen described the violence in his letter as an “outrageous and coward attack.”
The US State Department is monitoring the situation in Mumbai, said US Embassy spokesman John Johnson.
Luu Meng, president of the Cambodian Hotel Association, said he had heard of some hotels stepping up security Thursday.
“Every hotel has their way. We are in Cambodia. We are more safe,” he added.
