Phnom Penh, Dec 25 (IANS): Over 160 villagers in Cambodia's Battambang province have been tested HIV positive, a local official said Thursday.

Roka community's deputy chief Soeum Chhom said three villages have been hit by the outbreak. for which the officials blamed an unlicensed doctor, Yem Chrin, who allegedly used unsterilised needles and reused syringes on patients, Xinhua reported.

"In Roka village, 143 people tested positive for HIV, in Ambeng Thnge village, more than 20 tested positive, and in Tahen Muoy village, two children tested positive," he told Xinhua over telephone.

Soeun Chhom, who has been collecting signatures and thumbprints from those who tested positive for a compilation of an official data, said all the victims used to receive medical injections from the suspected doctor.

The Battambang provincial court Monday charged 56-year-old Yem Chrin, who was arrested last week, with "murder with cruel act" and he could face life imprisonment if convicted.

"We accused him of intentionally spreading HIV, conducting murder with cruel act, and doing medical business without a license from the Ministry of Health," a court's prosecutor Nuon San said Monday.

Residents in the community have flocked to a community health centre to have their blood tested since Dec 8 after a 74-year-old man, who tested positive for HIV in November, alerted others who used to receive medical injections from the suspected doctor to get tested.

Cambodia launched a full probe into the mass HIV infections last Thursday.

So far, no any information has been released by the investigation team, which comprises experts of Cambodian Health Ministry, World Health Organization, US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, UNAIDS and Pasteur Institute in Cambodia.