Two men were detained for questioning on Thursday night over a grenade attack in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district that evening that left a young boy dead and five others injured, police said.
Real estate broker Sorn Sin, 56, was eating with his children and friends in the front yard of their Khmounh commune home when, at around 7 p.m., a motorbike pulled up with two people on board and a grenade was lobbed toward them.
Phnom Penh deputy municipal police chief Chuon Narin said that he was treating it as a revenge attack.
“Last night [Thursday] we detained two people for questioning and right now they are still being questioned at the district police office,” Mr. Narin said Friday afternoon.
“It is not terrorism, it is a revenge case, and police will continue to investigate,” he added.
Mr. Sin’s son Sin Dara, 11, died at Kantha Bopha hospital Thursday night from injuries sustained in the blast. A young relative, Dararith Kanchanlon, 12, who was initially identified as Sorn Dara, remains in Kantha Bopha after having shrapnel removed from his stomach and legs.
Mr. Sin, his nephew, Duong Sok, 38, and friend, Sam Bas, 20, are in Calmette Hospital after having shrapnel removed from their torsos and legs.
Hak Peng Leang, 40, was in her front yard across the road from where the grenade was thrown and also sustained minor wounds to her hand.
Nhean Nan, the Khmounh commune police chief, identified the victims before referring further questions to district police. Mok Hong, chief of police in Sen Sok district, and his deputy, Nhoem Savuth, declined to comment.
Interviewed in his hospital bed Friday, Mr. Sin described the incident and said he could not think of any reason that someone would launch the deadly attack on his family home.
“Before the grenade exploded I saw two men on a red Suzuki Smash Revo motorbike stop outside my house,” he said.
Mr. Sin said that one of the men appeared to be taking off his shirt, but that the next thing he knew, there was a grenade fizzing at his feet.
“The light of the explosion hit me eye and I heard the explosion,” he said.
“I wonder why they attacked me with grenade because I have not had any dispute since I moved to live here and run a grocery business about two or three months ago.”
Previously, Mr. Sin and his family had lived in Prek Pnov district’s Kouk Roka commune.
