A dispute between two sons of late CPP senator Sin Song over 10 hectares of family land erupted in a gunfight in Sihanoukville’s Mittapheap district Friday night, injuring two men accompanying one of the brothers, police said Sunday.
The shooting occurred at 7:30 pm after Sin Rotha, 32, arrived at the disputed land in commune 4’s village 5 and confronted his younger brother Sin Visal, 28, who had been disturbing construction workers working on the land, municipal deputy police chief Yin Bunnath said.
During an exchange of gunfire lasting two to three minutes, one man was shot in the hand and another in the stomach, while Sin Visal’s car was hit five times, he said.
The two wounded men were not critically injured and had been sent to Phnom Penh for medical treatment, Yin Bunnath said, adding that Sin Visal had returned to the capital, but his shot-up Toyota Land Cruiser was being kept at the municipal police station as evidence.
Yin Bunnath said Sin Visal had driven from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville Friday and arrived at the disputed land around 4:30 pm, after which he interrupted the construction of a building that had been ordered built by Sin Rotha.
The two sons of Sin Song, who died in 2001, had gone to the Sihanoukville Municipal Court to solve the issue of ownership of the land a long time ago, Yin Bunnath said.
Although he did not know the exact details of the case, Yin Bunnath said the court had postponed its decision and both parties had been ordered to refrain from using the land until the case was settled.
“It is the first time that these siblings fought each other over the land dispute,” he added.
