By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
A hand-grenade was tossed by an unknown attacker into the house of the community leader for forest protection in O’Run village, Thlat commune, Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province, at 11:20 PM on Saturday evening. The explosion damaged the home but no one was injured or died.
42-year-old Sat Savuth, the owner of the home who claimed to be the leader of the community for forest protection, said on Sunday 22 July that, prior to the grenade attack, he was outside of his home when he saw people standing in front of his home. Alerted by this presence, he sent his wife and four children running out, subsequently, the attacker tossed the grenade inside his home.
Sat Savuth said: “I came out to go to the bathroom, I saw someone, he saw me also. I ran inside the house to grab my children and ran out for about 30-meter from the house when the explosion was heard. It did not cause any fire, but half of the wooden portion fell.”
Sat Savuth added that he suspects the grenade attack was perpetrated to kill him and his family because a small group of people are not happy with the action he took to oppose illegal logging and illegal land grabbing perpetrated by some businessmen and powerful officials.
Nevertheless, there is no source or witnesses who came forward to clarify this grenade attack case at all.
Tes Soeum, the Anlong Veng police chief, denied that this grenade attack involved any political party, or because of the forest protection activities, or because of the protection of lands belonging to the villagers.
Tes Soeum said that based on preliminary investigation, he suspects that this attack was a prank perpetrated a group of people, or a jealous attempt made by some young man who loves Sat Savuth’s daughter. “There is no political involvement. I’m only making a cursory assessment: in his house, he has a young daughter, therefore, (the young men) are after her, so maybe they are jealous of each others.”
On Sunday, the Licadho and Adhoc human rights groups in the district sent their investigators to the incident location to find out the real cause of the attack. According to Licadho, Sat Savuth was also a community leader for the protection of forests when he was living in Pren village, Sokh Chit commune, Sandan district, Kompong Thom province. While living there, businessmen involved in illegal logging tried to shoot him down once in 2005.
This is a second grenade attack in Anlong Veng district. In June, an unknown person tossed a grenade inside the house of the traffic police chief, killing one 16-year-old girl.
42-year-old Sat Savuth, the owner of the home who claimed to be the leader of the community for forest protection, said on Sunday 22 July that, prior to the grenade attack, he was outside of his home when he saw people standing in front of his home. Alerted by this presence, he sent his wife and four children running out, subsequently, the attacker tossed the grenade inside his home.
Sat Savuth said: “I came out to go to the bathroom, I saw someone, he saw me also. I ran inside the house to grab my children and ran out for about 30-meter from the house when the explosion was heard. It did not cause any fire, but half of the wooden portion fell.”
Sat Savuth added that he suspects the grenade attack was perpetrated to kill him and his family because a small group of people are not happy with the action he took to oppose illegal logging and illegal land grabbing perpetrated by some businessmen and powerful officials.
Nevertheless, there is no source or witnesses who came forward to clarify this grenade attack case at all.
Tes Soeum, the Anlong Veng police chief, denied that this grenade attack involved any political party, or because of the forest protection activities, or because of the protection of lands belonging to the villagers.
Tes Soeum said that based on preliminary investigation, he suspects that this attack was a prank perpetrated a group of people, or a jealous attempt made by some young man who loves Sat Savuth’s daughter. “There is no political involvement. I’m only making a cursory assessment: in his house, he has a young daughter, therefore, (the young men) are after her, so maybe they are jealous of each others.”
On Sunday, the Licadho and Adhoc human rights groups in the district sent their investigators to the incident location to find out the real cause of the attack. According to Licadho, Sat Savuth was also a community leader for the protection of forests when he was living in Pren village, Sokh Chit commune, Sandan district, Kompong Thom province. While living there, businessmen involved in illegal logging tried to shoot him down once in 2005.
This is a second grenade attack in Anlong Veng district. In June, an unknown person tossed a grenade inside the house of the traffic police chief, killing one 16-year-old girl.
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