Doubts raised over identity of trio's Cambodian kidnappers

DOUBTS have been raised that Khmer Rouge guerillas are behind the abduction of a former Hong Kong couple and a British tourist, snatched in Cambodia last week.

While the Cambodian Government maintains the guerillas are to blame, sources close to the Khmer Rouge have told the Sunday Morning Post they are not responsible for the snatch, raising fears independent bandits - possibly rebel government soldiers - may be holding the trio.

As negotiations for their release continue, the British embassy in the Cambodian capital has warned its nationals to stay away from known Khmer Rouge areas.

A senior embassy official would not speculate on whether the kidnapping of foreigners was a new Khmer Rouge tactic. But he said the travel advisory was in reaction to the ''best available evidence''.

Briton Dominic Chappell and his Australian girlfriend Kelly Wilkinson - who formerly lived on Lamma Island - were abducted with British tourist Tina Dominy. The trio was forced at gunpoint to leave their taxi which had been stopped at a roadblock in southern Sihanoukville province on Monday.

While Australian and British officials have publicly praised official rescue efforts, in private they have questioned the Cambodian Government's accounts. ''We really don't know what's going on,'' one diplomatic source said. ''It's hard to tell at this stage what the real truth is.'' Interior Minister You Hokney discounted talk of renegade soldier involvement as rumour. ''We know where the hostages are, who is holding them, and it is definitely the Khmer Rouge,'' he said.