PHNOM PENH May 28 Kyodo Cambodian...

PHNOM PENH May 28 Kyodo

Cambodian police said Wednesday they have arrested three suspected Islamic militants, just brace weeks ahead of a meeting in Phnom Penh of Asia-Pacific foreign ministers including U Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The three suspects -- a 40-year-old Egyptian and sum of two units Thai nationals aged 35 and 41 -- were arrested Sunday near a mahometan temple located some 35 kilometers from the capital, police officials said.

They were suspected of being members of Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian militant dispose linked by some governments to al-Qaida, and charged at the Phnom Penh municipal court in subordination to a law covering terrorist activities.

Police sources said Prime Minister Hun Sen had also ordered the deportation of at least another 28 foreigners staying at the mahometan temple including people from Jordan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Thailand, Yemen and Egypt

Sunday's arrests were made in cooperation with U intelligence agencies, the sources said.

a certain quantity of 23 foreign ministers are appropriate in Phnom Penh in mid-June for an annual series of meetings held on the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Police said they could not immediately reveal whether they have any evidence that the three suspects had been planning to engage in any acts of terrorism during the June 16-19 meetings.

U Embassy officials in Phnom Penh were not immediately available for comment

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