Merry-go-round operator Suos Yun who was injured
in the July 6 grenade attack.
POLICE say they still have not determined the motive for the grenade attack near
Hun Sen Park earlier this month, but a woman injured in the blast says she may have
been the intended target.
Sous Yun, 48, who operates a merry-go-round in the park, was seriously injured in
the back and elbows in the July 6 attack which left one woman dead and eight people
injured.
In an interview with the Post, Yun said she suspects that a business rival may have
had a motive to attack her.
"My merry-go-round is always more crowded than the other one.
"[The rival neighbors] have been offended and jealous since last April,"
she said.
Yun accused her rival of bribing the police $200 per month so they would order her
to move her business from its spot in the park.
"A few days before the incident, a [different] police officer told me that he
pitied me.
"He does not order me to move, though my rival had bribed the police,"
Yun complained.
Lying in the hospital with a bottle of injecting serum by her bedside, Yun recounted
that at the time of the attack she was collecting fees from her customers.
She said she heard no argument between anyone prior to the blast.
"I was sitting on a chair, I heard a sound like something fell on the ground
behind me.
"I turned my face - suddenly it exploded," she said.
Another victim, Sek Saman, 37, said that the blast occurred because of a conflict
between two men.
"I was eating a bun as I saw two men on a motor bike arrive and stop.
"A young man got off the motor bike and walked towards a middle-aged man nearby
and they talked to each other," she said, adding that soon after the two started
to shout.
Saman said that she glanced over and saw the young man running to the motor bike.
At that moment, she added, she heard an explosion and then the cries of the victims.
Showing a small bandaged wound below her left shoulder, she said: "Fortunately
I was only a little injured, and at that time I went to hospital myself."
Police declined to discuss Yun's accusation or any details of the investigation.
"We are investigating whether is because of a conflict or politically motivated,"
said Khuon Sophorn, municipal criminal police chief.
He declined to comment further.
A preliminary report from the police of Chamkarmon precinct, dated July 7, said the
blast occurred due to a personal conflict.
The attack coincided with the first anniversary of last July's fighting, when then-First
Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh was ousted by Second Prime Minister Hun Sen.
It was the first such attack since the electoral campaign started on June 25.
In its July 7 statement, the cabinet of First Prime Minister Ung Huot vehemently
condemned the attack as an act of terrorism aimed to undermine democratic development
and respect for human rights in Cambodia.
