A Sam Rainsy Party activist was injured by a grenade Friday at his Kampot province home following an argument over politics with his brother-in-law, a CPP supporter, provincial police officials said Sunday.
An opposition party official condemned the act as characteristic of the ruling party.
The victim, Chan Nim, 51, of Svay Tong commune, Kompong Trach district, said he was wounded on his buttocks, his right arm and his neck.
“The hit man is my brother-in-law,” he said by telephone from the Phnom Penh hospital where he was recovering Sunday.
The alleged assailant, Team Ning, 48, a teacher at the Svay Tong primary school, was arrested and was being held Sunday by Kampot provincial police. He is expected to be sent to Kampot court today, said Deputy Police Chief Sun Sarin, who added that Team Ning has confessed to the attack, saying, “I am wrong.”
Sun Sarin said police are investigating how Team Ning came to possess the grenade and are looking for any suspects who either provided him with the grenade or influenced the incident.
Chan Nim said his brother-in-law went to drink alcohol on Friday night at the house of the village chief, a longtime and vocal CPP supporter.
“After he got drunk he went into my house and argued with me. Then he [went outside] and threw the grenade into my house’s compound, and I was injured on the spot,” Chan Nim said.
“The grenade attack on our Sam Rainsy Party activist is low- class and politically motivated. That is the tendency of the CPP. They will dare to kill even their own relatives,” said Eng Chhay Eang, secretary-general of the Sam Rainsy Party.
