HANOI (AFP) -- Four men, including a Cambodian national, were executed by firing squad in Vietnam's southern business capital of Ho Chi Minh City for drug trafficking and murder, state media said Saturday.

Tran The Trung, 49, a Cambodian citizen of Vietnamese origin, and Quach Kim Thuan, 41, were put to death at the city's Thu Duc execution site at dawn Thursday.

They were arrested in July 1998 after being caught trafficking heroin from Cambodia to Vietnam, the ***Thanh Nien*** newspaper said. It did not give the date of their trial.

Pham Van Khoe, 54, and Nguyen Thanh Quy, 22, were also executed Thursday at Thu Duc.

Khoe was convicted last year for killing his lover in a jealous rage in November 2001. Quy was handed the death penalty for stabbing a man to death to steal his personal possessions. The daily did not provide any more details.

According to information compiled from state media and court officials, at least 66 people have been executed and at least 101 people have been sentenced to death this year in the communist nation.