A machete was used to cut off a man’s left hand during a dispute on Friday night in Kampong Chhnang’s Samaki Meanchey district, police said yesterday.

Sorn Thy, a district police official, said six people were arrested over the attack on Lay Bunthear, 26, who had been riding his motorbike home from work when he got into an argument with the six.

Thy said the suspects, on two motorbikes, followed Bunthear towards his house after the argument.

One of them drew a machete and tried to stab Bunthear with it. Thy said that the victim’s hand was hacked off when he raised it to defend himself. “Because of his serious injuries, the victim was taken to [a hospital in] Phnom Penh,” Thy said.

The perpetrators escaped but authorities were able to find and arrest them based on statements from witnesses.

Doch Chamreoun, chief of the provincial major crime office, said the suspects were still being questioned as of yesterday evening.