SIX people were injured and two cars badly damaged in two separate grenade blasts over the holiday weekend in Kampong Cham province’s Ponhea Krek district.

District police Chief Prak Bunnon said Monday that the first grenade went off at 1:30pm in a Krek commune market and is believed to have been thrown by a lone suspect, resulting in six injuries. No deaths from the blast have been reported.

The second blast occurred on Sunday around 11pm in Posrok village, Kaung Kang commune. That grenade, thrown from a car carrying a driver and a passenger, went off close to the home of a police officer.

According to Prak Bunnon, robbery was not the motive in either incident. “If the offender who threw the grenade in the market had wanted to steal something, he could have blown open the gold displays and taken something. Instead, he ran off without taking anything,” he said.

“The second blast was motivated by rancour against the police. We have already arrested two suspects for throwing the grenade near my police officer’s house.”

Meach Min, the district military police chief, dismissed Prak Bunnon’s assessment of the market blast and insisted it was a robbery. Three hundred grammes of gold were taken and six gold-storage chests were destroyed, he said.

Police officer Bien Kemsreng, whose house was close to the second explosion, said he saw a car appear on the street before the grenade went off and then drive away afterwards, but couldn’t determine what the reason for the attack might be.