Khmer Rouge Threatens Lives of U.N. Hostages

Khmer Rouge guerrillas threatened Saturday to kill nine U.N. hostages in Cambodia and destroy their helicopter if peacekeeping soldiers tried to free them by force, a U.N. spokesman said.

The hostages--seven Uruguayan peacekeeping soldiers, a Cambodian interpreter and a Russian helicopter crewman--were being held in Stoeng Thom, a remote village in Kratie province northeast of Phnom Penh.

Eric Falt of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia said the Khmer Rouge was thought to have 350 guerrilla fighters in the area around Stoeng Thom, which was heavily mined. The hostages had not been harmed but their weapons had been seized.

A Khmer Rouge letter containing the death threat was delivered to Phnom Penh by way of a Uruguayan soldier and two Russian air crew members who were originally captured with the nine hostages Friday evening.

The Khmer Rouge detained two other groups of U.N. peacekeepers earlier this week but it did not threaten to kill them and later freed them.

A U.N. military source in the northeastern town of Stoeng Treng said that about 70 armed Uruguayan soldiers had boarded a transport helicopter bound for Kratie, a town about 15 miles from Stoeng Thom.

UNTAC’s terms of engagement do not allow the use of force unless personnel come under fire. Falt had no comment when asked if force might be used to try to free the hostages.

He said the situation did not appear quite as alarming as previously thought because it was now clear that the Russian Mi-17 helicopter carrying the men made an unscheduled landing in a guerrilla zone.