Six masked men who took 70 students and three teachers hostage at an international school in northwestern Cambodia on Thursday have released some of their captives, a government spokesperson and police said.
The hostage takers, some of them armed, entered the Siem Reap International School around 9.30am and demanded $1 000, six AK-47 assault rifles, six shotguns, hand grenades and at least one car, said Prak Chanthoeun, a deputy military police commander.
He said authorities were communicating with the hostage-takers by cellphone and that some of the men ”were armed with shotguns”, adding that three teachers were also taken hostage.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith, who is also the government spokesperson, said the men had freed some of the hostages from the school in Siem Reap province, but were still holding about 40 people.
He added that the men have also demanded a 12-seat van from authorities.
Ou Em, a senior police in Siem Reap, said foreign students also appeared to be among the hostages.
Further details about the incident were not immediately available. – Sapa-AP