Pokémon Go players banned from Cambodia genocide museum

A genocide museum at the site of a former torture site in Cambodia has become the latest public attraction to ban people from playing Pokémon Go on the premises.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum took the action after smartphone-wielding players were seen chasing the virtual characters.

The augmented-reality game, which has become a global craze, launched in Cambodia last weekend.

A Buddhist monk looks at pictures of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime. Credit: Reuters

Pokémon Go players have already been banned from poignant museums around the world, including the memorial sites for the Hiroshima atomic bomb and the Auschwitz death camp.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum director Chhay Visoth posted signs at the site's entrance and inside banning the game.

Children pose for a picture inside a cell at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Credit: Reuters

The museum serves as a memorial to Cambodia's suffering under the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime.

An estimated 17,000 Cambodians were tortured at the centre, which was known as S-21 prison, and then killed.

An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died from execution, starvation and poor medical treatment under the rule of the ultra-communist group.