Khmer Rouge guerrillas were trapped Monday by the Thai border with no place left to run and dwindling options to negotiate a peace deal with the Cambodian government, military officials said.
Cambodian generals said their troops were pursuing what remains of the once-formidable guerrilla group. The country's leader, Hun Sen, hinted that the top Khmer Rouge chieftains - Ta Mok, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan - might soon be captured.The Khmer Rouge has been in disarray since late March, when more than 1,000 guerrillas unhappy with Ta Mok's harsh rule started defecting. Thousands of other war-weary guerrillas have made peace since 1996.
The defectors, supported by government troops, drove Ta Mok's loyalists out of his base in Anlong Veng. Defense Minister Tea Banh said Monday that pro-government forces have taken Ta Mok's last stronghold, a piece of high ground called Hill 200.
Ta Mok, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan top the most-wanted list of Khmer Rouge figures since Pol Pot succumbed April 15 to a purported heart attack. Ta Mok had deposed him in a power struggle last year and kept him under house arrest.
Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge regime that caused the deaths of as many as 2 million people from 1975 to 1979.