Cambodian officials said Monday that there was no evidence Thai soldiers were responsible for killing two men whose badly burned bodies were found near the border in Thailand, and who are believed to be Cambodians who were reported missing last week.
The unidentified bodies were found on a cassava farm in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province and have been sent to Bangkok to be autopsied.
After Cambodian media reported Monday that Thai soldiers shot the two missing men, who disappeared from Battambang province’s Sampov Loun district, Neth Sary, Cambodia’s consul general in Sa Kaeo, contacted officials on both sides to check into the claims, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said in an email.
“In fact, it was just a rumor,” Mr. Kuong said, adding that Cambodian district authorities have set up a sub-commission tasked with identifying the bodies.
Chun Lon, the chief of the border liaison office at the Phnom Dey international checkpoint, also said Thai border soldiers had denied shooting the men.
“The soldiers said not to blame them,” Mr. Lon said. Sampov Loun district governor Chea Sambath said the identities of the victims are still unknown.
“We can’t yet say whether the victims are Cambodian or Thai,” Mr. Sambath said.
