PHNOM PENH, Jan 20 (AFP) - A man who feared he was infected with AIDS after a local hospital refused to buy his blood set himself ablaze in the center of the Cambodian capital Thursday, police and witnesses said.

"This man used to sell his blood but suddenly nobody wanted to buy his blood anymore. Clearly he was upset," district police chief Pol Pithey told AFP while pointing to the blankened corpse, which had been shifted to a nearby pagoda.

Witnesses said the victim, identified by police as Khmao, calmly walked up to a city center monument, munched on a few grapes before dowsing himself with gasoline and burning himself to a crisp.

Busy controlling scores of curious onlookers eager to catch a glimpse of the charred body, police said the suicide was likely to have been sparked by the victim's fear that he was infected with AIDS.

Cambodia has the fastest growing AIDS epidemic in Asia, and health officials estimate at least 200,000 people are infected with HIV, the virus that causes the deadly disease.

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