Hostage-takers kill Canadian toddler for crying


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(N.B. Thought this would rather be here instead in NFN.)

Hostage-takers said they killed a two-year-old Canadian boy with a bullet to the head as punishment for crying too much during a tense standoff at a school in northern Cambodia.

There is conflicting information about the boy's identity. There are unconfirmed reports that the boy was born in Victoria, B.C.

The situation developed early Thursday, when four masked men armed with shotguns entered the Siem Reap International School and proceeded to hold a classroom of kindergarten students captive.

The gunmen demanded $30,000 US in cash, weapons and a van to drive across the border into Thailand. If their demands weren't met, they threatened to kill their 29 young hostages one by one.

At one point, gunfire was heard from inside the school.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said the cash and vehicle were given to the hostage-takers, but the demands for guns and grenades.

The attackers were lured to the vehicle, however, getting into the minivan with four children in tow. At that point, authorities stormed the school compound.

Despite an assault by some irate members of the assembled crowd of panic-stricken parents, the hostage takers were arrested.

Authorities managed to rescue all but one of the hostages.

A Canadian child was rushed from the school to a nearby clinic, where he was pronounced dead.

He had been shot in the head.

The gunmen reportedly killed the boy when authorities declined to meet all of their demands, Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said, quoting the deputy national police chief, Neth Savoeun.

"Something went horribly wrong during the six-hour siege and suddenly there was a burst of gunfire," CTV's Steve Chao reported Thursday.

In Ottawa, Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew expressed his condolences.

"We are chagrined and hurt to have learned the terrible news this morning of the assassination of that child," Pettigrew told reporters.

According to Minister Pettigrew's parliamentary secretary, Liberal MP Dan McTeague, Canadian officials are now on the scene.

"They have been there for several hours, keeping us in constant contact," he said.

"Hopefully they will be able to make contact with the family."

Motive Unknown

The crisis unfolded at Cambodia's tourism hub of Siem Reap, near its famed 800-year-old Angkor Wat temples.

"The temples draw about a million tourists every year. In recent years, a lot of hotels have been built there and a lot of ex-pat families have come to run the tourist hotels," Chao said.

"And so in that school, there were several dozen children from different nationalities."

The children held hostage Thursday may represent as many as 15 different nationalities.

The attackers' motives were not immediately clear, though Kanharith speculated that the hostage takers were "rogue elements'' hired to hurt tourism in Siem Reap.

He also wondered if the men were part of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, an anti-government group that launched a failed armed attack in Cambodia in November 2000.

"We don't know since they are covering their faces with masks,'' he said.

Deputy Military Police Commander Prak Chanthoeum said the men were villagers from the province of Kandal, who decided to prey on foreign children because they thought their parents were rich.

Adding to the confusion, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said they appeared to be security guards at the school. Teachers, however, later said they did not recognize the men.

With a report from CTV's Steve Chao

I don't know why these people go after school children. Remember the incident back in September in Russia? Jesus Christ.

On a brighter note, it's a good thing they didn't keep their promise and cap each of the 29 children they took hostage. But that one toddler that was shot... :cry:

Edited by fred666
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I saw an interview of one of the criminal.

He was a rice farmer beaten to a pulp by the police.

Obviously, a rich private international school was too much to pass on for rice farmers earning couple of dollars a week.

Rich kids with maids and chauffers make good target in rural Cambodia.

Their initial ransom was $1000, but they realised that was too low and raised it to $30000.

The ******s should be hung for killing a child, but I think there is a bigger issue here. There is no reason why a tragedy like this won't happen again.

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I saw an interview of one of the criminal.

He was a rice farmer beaten to a pulp by the police.

Obviously, a rich private international school was too much to pass on for rice farmers earning couple of dollars a week.

Rich kids with maids and chauffers make good target in rural Cambodia.

Their initial ransom was $1000, but they realised that was too low and raised it to $30000.

The ******s should be hung for killing a child, but I think there is a bigger issue here.  There is no reason why a tragedy like this won't happen again.

586077583[/snapback]

According to CNN, they were beaten up right after they were taken out of the school. Poor kid... Cambodia is in such a mess now...

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There are mental crazy people who doesn't have any heart or remorse for the stunts that they feel. It really hurts to see acts on children. Something happens to child like every hour. It is really sad. The families have so much to go through from pain of a childs death. I want to have kids but BS like that makes me wait a lil bit longer. I just pray about it.

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I don't know why these people go after school children.

586076675[/snapback]

because [most] parents would do anything to save their child from any kind of harm. terrorists depend on that.

The ******s should be hung for killing a child

that's too easy of a death. torture them slowly until they die and they will wish they didn't take kids as hostage.

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that's too easy of a death.  torture them slowly until they die and they will wish they didn't take kids as hostage.

586078388[/snapback]

If they survive the police interrogation, Cambodian prison will be their slow torture.

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