Two men died in Oddar Meanchey’s Anlong Veng district on Monday night after one detonated a grenade, killing himself and his uncle and seriously injuring his pregnant wife, police said yesterday.

Hai Roeum, 37, had arrived drunk at his home in Lomtong commune and began abusing his wife, Chan Theng, and their children, eyewitnesses and police said.

Theng ran for help to the nearby home of Roeum’s uncle, Pouk Pha, 45, which led to a standoff between the two men before Roeum, a former soldier, set off a grenade, said Sou Pisey, 50, a neighbour living in Kok Sampor village.

According to Pisey, Roeum had begun arguing with his wife about 8:30pm when she ignored his request to wake up his daughter.

“He was beating and kicking his wife, and she ran to her uncle’s house nearby. He was furious. He also threw his nine-month-old baby into a pile of bundled rice sheafs,” she said.

“His uncle went over to his house and told him not to treat his wife and children badly … but when his uncle went back home, Roeum followed with a grenade in his hand.… He pulled the pin, taking his and his uncle’s lives.”

Both Theng – who is four months' pregnant – and her aunt were sent to hospital, Pisey added.

Ke Samnang, deputy police chief of Anlong Veng district said Theng sustained serious injuries to her face and other parts of her body.

“This was a case of domestic violence and Roeum set off the grenade” he had kept since leaving the military in 2000, he said.