T HE Vice Commander of Region 4, Siem Riep Province, Lieutenant General Mourn Auk

has been shot dead. He was apparently the victim of a motorcycle robbery outside

a small jewelry shop, 100 meters southeast of the New Market at 2:30 pm on June

10, his family said. However a colleague refused to rule out that it was a

political or revenge killing, saying: "The case is still under

investigation."

Poeu Vany, the general's wife, said the family had

traveled from their home in Kompong Cham province to Phnom Penh because Auk

required medical treatment.

Speaking at her husband's funeral at the

Ministry of Defence on June 12, Vany said : "We dropped in at the jewelry shop

to buy something. I hopped off the motorcycle and went into the jewelry shop.

Then I saw two robbers come and separate my husband from the motorbike and shoot

him. They did not say anything to him."

"I rushed towards my husband as

he was falling down, he said 'I'm OK, don't come near to protect me'. The

robbers wanted to shoot me when I stepped towards him."

Sang Try, Auk's

son in-law who witnessed the crime, said: "I saw three armed civilians hop off a

motorbike. Two of them grabbed my father-in-law's arms while the third person

shot him twice under the armpit and then stole the motorcycle."

Sang Try

said: "There were no police at the incident. We rushed Auk to the hospital but

he was already dead when we arrived there."

Another witness said the

robbers had to push the moto to get it to start before riding off, then fired

warning shots as they fled.