PHNOM PENH, Wednesday 13 October 2010 (AFP) - Cambodia on Wednesday accused Thai authorities of playing "dirty games" and concocting evidence that anti-government "Red Shirts" had received weapons training on its territory.
Thailand's Department of Special Investigation (DSI) said that 11 Red Shirts picked up in the northern province of Chiang Mai this month had confessed to receiving three weeks of training in Siem Reap to assassinate politicians.
"When they came back to Thailand, they were sent to Chiang Mai to prepare for assignment. They told us that they were trained for sabotage and assassination," DSI chief Tharit Pengdit told AFP on Monday.
The 11 men, who are reportedly part of a larger group of 39 militants, will not face any charges but serve as witnesses in efforts to prosecute the people who organised the training, he added.
The government-owned Thai news website MCOT quoted Police Lieutenant Colonel Payao Thongsen as saying that the men were taken by Red Shirt leaders to Cambodia without passing legal immigration processes.
The Cambodian government on Wednesday strongly rejected the allegations.
"Cambodia will neither allow foreigners to set up training camps nor military bases on Cambodian territory," a spokesman for the Council of Ministers said in a statement.
He accused the Thai authorities of engaging in "malicious political manoeuvring" to link the country to Thailand's internal problems.
Cambodia "strongly demands that Thailand DSI put an end to the dirty games of concocting evidences to deflect Thailand public opinion from Thailand's own internal political and social problems," the statement said.
Mass anti-government rallies by the Red Shirts in the heart of Bangkok in April and May left 91 people dead -- mainly civilians -- in clashes between demonstrators and armed soldiers.
The government has blamed the movement for a string of bomb blasts in recent weeks, but the Reds deny any involvement and have accused the authorities of a conspiracy to justify tougher security powers and tarnish their image.
Thailand's Department of Special Investigation (DSI) said that 11 Red Shirts picked up in the northern province of Chiang Mai this month had confessed to receiving three weeks of training in Siem Reap to assassinate politicians.
"When they came back to Thailand, they were sent to Chiang Mai to prepare for assignment. They told us that they were trained for sabotage and assassination," DSI chief Tharit Pengdit told AFP on Monday.
The 11 men, who are reportedly part of a larger group of 39 militants, will not face any charges but serve as witnesses in efforts to prosecute the people who organised the training, he added.
The government-owned Thai news website MCOT quoted Police Lieutenant Colonel Payao Thongsen as saying that the men were taken by Red Shirt leaders to Cambodia without passing legal immigration processes.
The Cambodian government on Wednesday strongly rejected the allegations.
"Cambodia will neither allow foreigners to set up training camps nor military bases on Cambodian territory," a spokesman for the Council of Ministers said in a statement.
He accused the Thai authorities of engaging in "malicious political manoeuvring" to link the country to Thailand's internal problems.
Cambodia "strongly demands that Thailand DSI put an end to the dirty games of concocting evidences to deflect Thailand public opinion from Thailand's own internal political and social problems," the statement said.
Mass anti-government rallies by the Red Shirts in the heart of Bangkok in April and May left 91 people dead -- mainly civilians -- in clashes between demonstrators and armed soldiers.
The government has blamed the movement for a string of bomb blasts in recent weeks, but the Reds deny any involvement and have accused the authorities of a conspiracy to justify tougher security powers and tarnish their image.
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