Mao Tse Tung Blvd was the site of a daylight moto driveby bag snatching that left a young woman dead November 14.

A French woman was killed Wednesday in Phnom Penh by a mini van after she was dragged

off of her mototaxi by handbag snatchers.

It was one of a rash of bold driveby handbag snatching robberies that plague Phnom

Penh streets.

An eyewitness told the Post two men sped by on a motorbike on Mao Tse Tung Blvd and

tried to grab her handbag, pulling her onto the road where she was struck by a vehicle

and killed.

Phnom Penh Municipal Police chief Touch Naroth said no arrests were made. The moto

taxi and the van fled. No witnesses could identify either vehicle. Touch said he

didn't know whether the incident was a traffic accident or a robbery attempt since

the handbag was left on the road.

The victim was Aurelia Lacroix, 28, who worked in the Ministry of Agriculture.