STUNG Treng provincial police have launched an investigation after a soldier was beheaded as he was lying in a hammock in an alleged revenge attack on Saturday, and officials say the perpetrator is a local forest labourer.

Bech Leang Horn, a soldier stationed with Battalion 423 in Stung Treng town, was killed while he was lying in a hammock and talking on his phone. The perpetrator allegedly cut off his head with a machete.

Yorn Din, deputy provincial police chief, said authorities did not know the exact reason behind the attack, but that he believes the perpetrator was a forest worker who was angry about a lost chainsaw.

“It was witnessed that before the killing at about 1:30pm, the victim and the perpetrator had argued loudly, and a few minutes later there was silence,” he said.

“According to information from a few forest labourers and some soldiers as witnesses, the attack likely happened because the perpetrator was angry with the soldier, [and] has come several times and asked him to pay for the loss of a chainsaw.”