Three people were seriously injured and four others slightly wounded in a grenade attack on a group of gamblers in Kompong Cham province late Wednesday evening, police said Friday.
Police suspect the attack was carried out by an RCAF soldier who was reportedly angered after a dispute over how to play a dice game, said Kompong Siem district police Chief Tor Chan. Police are searching for soldier Vong Pum, 37.
“It was caused by a gambling loser,” Tor Chan said. “[The suspect] might be arrested soon,” he said.
Police said the suspect threw the grenade into the home of Saing Than, 54, in Srak commune’s Tamao village, where Vong Pum and the others had been gambling before the soldier abruptly left in a rage.
Police did not know how much money Vong Pum lost. They believe Vong Pum is armed, as his M-16 rifle which he kept at his home went missing after the suspect ran away.
Meanwhile, police in Banteay Meanchey province’s Malai district are still searching for suspects in an April 25 grenade attack.
Two unidentified men threw a grenade into the home of Nuon Chamroeun, 49, in Tuol Pongror commune’s Santepheap village around 8:45 am, Banteay Meanchey police Chief Ath Khem said Friday. No one was hurt in the attack.
He said police believe that grenade was thrown in revenge over a land dispute.
Separately, two boys were killed and two other children seriously injured when a war-era bomb exploded Wednesday afternoon in Kratie province’s Snuol district, district police Chief Huon Chhuon said Friday.
Ror Vanny, 13, and Tam Nahim, 8, were killed when they, along with about a dozen children, tried to knock open the bomb they discovered.
