Cambodia hostages freed, two kidnappers kill selves

Cambodian forces exchanged fire with four gunmen who took nearly 20 people hostage, including children, late on Saturday in a remote hospital in the tiny South-East Asian nation and demanded money and vehicles.

The four unidentified men, posing as patients, entered the hospital carrying a case of AK-47 assault rifles and shot a doctor in the leg, a senior local official said.

After a 15-hour standoff, one of the patients died of heart trouble, the deputy provincial governor said.

‘‘The four pretended to be patients, and pulled out rifles and held patients and doctors at gunpoint,’’ Nhek Bunchhon, deputy governor of Bontey Meanchey province, around 200 km north-west of the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, said.

Police at first believed only 10 patients and staff had been taken hostage, but revised that total when they discovered visiting the hospital.

The drama came at a difficult time for Cambodia as it hosts 14 leaders, including heads of government from China, Japan, India and South Korea, in the capital, Phnom Penh, with the focus of their summit on beefing up anti-terror efforts in the region.