PHNOM PENH — Cambodia’s revered ex-king Norodom Sihanouk, whose life encompassed turbulent years of rule, exile and war including the Khmer Rouge reign of terror, died Monday in China, sparking nationwide mourning.



Sihanouk, who had been a frequent visitor to Beijing where he received most of his medical treatment, died of a heart attack aged 89, according to his longtime personal assistant Prince Sisowath Thomico.



“King Sihanouk did not belong to his family, he belonged to Cambodia and to history,” he told AFP of the former monarch who abruptly quit the throne in October 2004, citing old age and health problems.



“It’s painful. I am full of sorrow,” he said.



The royal, who steered his country through decades of painful political and social convulsions, from independence to civil war and invasion, is set to be brought back to his homeland on Wednesday. His son and current king Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen, both appearing tearful, traveled to Beijing to collect the body, which will lie in state at the royal palace for three months ahead of a lavish funeral. Some 100,000 people are expected to line the streets of the capital to mark Sihanouk’s final homecoming, starting a week-long official mourning period, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told reporters. — AFP