PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Three tourists appeared in a Cambodian court Monday accused of taking photographs of their bare bottoms inside the country's famed Angkor temple complex, an official said on Monday.

Two men - an Italian and Argentinian - and a Dutch woman, were arrested after a guard spotted them taking the cheeky pictures at one of the temples at the ancient site on Sunday.

"They were taking photos showing their bottoms," Long Kosal of the Apsara Authority - the government agency managing the Angkor complex - told AFP.

"Their action affects the value of our temples," Kosal said, adding they were sent to court in Siem Reap city over the alleged offensive activities.

Earlier this year, three French men and two American sisters were deported after they were convicted in two separate cases of taking naked photos inside Angkor temple complex.

They received a suspended six-month prison sentence on two charges - public exposure and making pornography - and will be banned from re-entering Cambodia for four years.

They were caught just days after a series of photos of Asian women posing nude at ancient Cambodian temples went viral online, outraging officials who vowed to step up efforts to prevent similar stunts.

The Angkor Archaeological Park, a world heritage site, contains the remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, dating from the 9th to the 15th centuries, and is Cambodia's most popular tourist destination.