A Phnom Penh businessman who is the brother-in-law of a senior Funcinpec official was shot Friday in what police are calling a hired attack, while in Kampot province on Sunday, a Funcinpec activist was killed in a dispute involving a district police officer, Kampot police said.
Okhna Saing Rachana, 54, was driving home on Monivong Boulevard on Friday evening when two young men on a motorbike pulled up next to him and fired a K-54 pistol through the passenger window of his Toyota Land Cruiser, wounding him, said Huy Song of the Daun Penh district Police Department. The businessman runs a motorcycle dealership.
The shooting could be the work of a professional, said Huy Song, adding that police currently have no suspects.
“It may be by a hit man,” Huy Song said. “It is not a robbery.”
“It’s very hard to conclude that it is politically motivated,” he said. “It looks like a personal dispute.”
The victim’s brother-in-law, who did not wish to be named, said that Saing Rachana is a close supporter of Funcinpec, and had been urging party leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh to continue to block the formation of a government under Prime Minister Hun Sen.
But Deputy Municipal Police Chief Heng Pov said the shooting was a personal matter, and not related to the slaying Saturday of Chuor Chetharith, an editor and reporter for pro-royalist Ta Prohm radio, Chuor Chetharith.
A relative of the victim, who also asked not to be identified, said he doubted the attack on Saing Rachana was political. He described Saing Rachana as very occupied with business matters and said he never discussed politics.
Saing Rachana was flown to Singapore on Saturday morning, the relative said, adding that his condition is not serious.
In Kampot, female Funcinpec activist Dos Hut, 47, was killed early Sunday morning by a police official, said Kampot Governor Puth Chandarith.
Dos Hut had been involved in a dispute with her neighbor, police said, when the neighbor’s husband, police official Sim Thy, 37, got his weapon and shot her.
Kampot Deputy Police Chief In Chhay said police would continue to investigate the killing to see if it was politically motivated.
