U.N. Alleges New Cambodian ‘Killing Field’

Soldiers loyal to Cambodian leader Hun Sen have methodically targeted and executed at least 40 military officers or officials from the opposing royalist political party that he deposed in a July coup, according to a United Nations report presented Thursday to Hun Sen by a senior U.N. official.

The report blames some of the deaths on an elite, special forces unit that figured prominently in the coup and allegedly tortured more than 30 military personnel.

It further identifies an apparent killing field for Hun Sen’s victorious forces, an area about 60 miles southwest of the capital that U.N. sources cited “as a location where many … loyalists (of the opposing party) were executed and their bodies secretly buried.”

“There appears to be a pattern of the deliberate targeting of certain senior (opposing party) officers and their key associates and subordinates,” states the 24-page report.