Cambodian PM warns against coup attempt

Cambodia's Prime Minister, Hun Sen, has warned would-be coup plotters any attempt to oust him would be impossible, just three days before his visit to Australia.

''Let me remind that any coup attempt would not be possible, or the plotters will be in trouble,'' he said in a speech in Pursat Province, north-west of Phnom Penh.

His speech was aired on several radio and TV stations.

Mr Sen says he recently listened to a foreign-run radio channel that suggested he could be toppled in a coup similar to that in Thailand last month.

Since Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953 there has been only one successful coup, against then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk by Lon Nol in 1970 , which was backed by the United States.

Mr Sen, who became Prime Minister in 1985, will be in Australia for a week.

- Kyodo