Cambodian police have arrested a security guard suspected of masterminding the hostage-taking at a school yesterday in which gunmen shot dead a Canadian toddler.
The guard (29) worked at a souvenir shop and did not take part in yesterday's hostage drama at the international school in Siem Reap, police said.
The four hostage-takers, all Cambodians in their 20s who were seized at the end of an eight-hour siege, were also being held in the tourist town which serves as the gateway to the famous Angkor Wat temples, 200 kilometres northwest of Phnom Penh.
After a night of questioning by police, the four were paraded battered, bruised and caked in blood in front of the media.
Armed with a handgun and knives, the men stormed into the school yesterday morning, first demanding $1,000 and a van, increasing the sum later to $30,000, police said.
The two-year-old Canadian boy was shot in the head after talks to free the 29 infants hit a stumbling block over the kidnappers demands for weapons, police said.