Two separate grenade blasts left four people dead in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district Wednesday night, according to a police official.
One grenade resulted in three people being killed and 12 being injured in a personal dispute between two families at 10:45 pm in Boeng Tumpun commune, according to Touch Sarun, Meanchey district police chief.
An argument among the children of two neighboring families in the daytime escalated Wednesday night when the fathers returned home and continued the dispute, the wife of one of the victims said.
Sao Bunma, a 33-year-old Ministry of Interior policeman, brought a large Russian-made hand grenade to threaten the family of 50-year-old Saom Savein, according to several witnesses. Several other family members and bystanders arrived to try to calm Sao Bunma down, but the grenade exploded as his arms were pushed up in the air, the witnesses said.
Sao Bunma, Saom Savein and his 27-year-old brother-in-law, Ieng Sery, were killed instantly. The blast decapitated Saom Savein. Twelve others, including children, went to the hospital with injuries, according to Touch Sarun, who said that the grenade blast was not politically motivated.
Less than two hours later, a soldier was killed in Meanchey district’s Chak Angre commune in a separate incident when one of three grenades he was playing with went off, Touch Sarun said. The soldier, Yim Sokhum, was inebriated at the time of the blast, Touch Sarun said.
