Cambodian forest defenders killed after confronting illegal loggers

Soldiers in an area of north-eastern Cambodia where illicit logging and smuggling are rife are reported to have killed a forest protection ranger, a military police officer and a conservation worker in apparent retaliation for their seizure of equipment from illegal loggers, officials have said.

Keo Sopheak, a senior environmental official in Mondulkiri province, said the three-person team was attacked late Tuesday afternoon after patrolling in the Keo Seima wildlife conservation sanctuary. He said the dead civilian was a Cambodian employee of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society.

The three are the latest victims of an alarming trend in recent years, the murder of environmental defenders by parties seeking the financial exploitation of natural resources. Roughly 200 activists have been killed worldwide in each of the past two years, according to the UK-based watchdog group Global Witness.

“The three were killed not by robbers or a guerrilla group but they were shot by government armed forces who backed the illegal timber cutting,” Sopheak said. The conservation team had earlier confiscated chainsaws and motorcycles from some Vietnamese logging illegally, he said.



Source: theguardian

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