Cambodian journalist,son shot dead

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PHNOM PENH, Jul 12: A Cambodian journalist and his son were shot dead as they left a sports stadium in the capital Phnom Penh, police said Saturday.

Khim Sambo (47) died in hospital Friday evening soon after being shot twice in the back by unknown gunmen, Phnom Penh's police chief Touch Naruth said.

His 22-year-old son Khat Sarin Theada was shot once in the chest and died later, he added.

"They were shot to death after they finished exercising at the Olympic Stadium," Touch Naruth said.

"Witnesses said it was over some sort of dispute, but we are still looking for the murderers,"he told the AFP.

Khim Sambo had been working for daily Khmer-language Moneakseka Khmer (Khmer Conscience), a newspaper allied to the government's opposition leader Sam Rainsy, since 1997.

He usually covered social affairs rather than politics, the newspaper's publisher Dam Sith said.

Dam Sith was recently charged for printing allegations that Cambodia's foreign minister had ties to the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. The charge was later dropped.

The deadly attack took place as Cambodia kicked off a month of campaigning for its July 27 general election.