POL POT HAS DIED AT 73, REPORTS SAY.(MAIN)(Obituary)

Byline: Associated Press

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Pol Pot, the leader of the radical Khmer Rouge movement whose brutal rule was blamed for the deaths of up to 2 million people, has died, his jailer said Thursday. He was 73.

Pol Pot died before midnight Wednesday in northern Cambodia near the Thai border, said Nuon Nou, reached by telephone. Nuon Nou was assigned to guard the 73-year-old Pol Pot after he lost power in a bloody internal struggle last year.

Nuon Nou said Pol Pot's wife informed them of his death.

In the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith could not confirm Pol Pot's death.

``(If he is dead) …