P OLICE have identified one suspect in the car attack against a UN officer which resulted in the shooting of his daughter, according to Interior Minister You Hockry.

Hockry said the police were currently looking for the suspect to arrest him, but the Interior Minister would not provide further information to the Post.

UN Center for Human Rights (UNCHR) administrative officer Luis Oliveros was attacked in his car outside his house while returning home with his son and daughter at about 10:15 pm on Thursday Sep 8, according to a UNCHR press release.

The attacker, described as short and strongly built man wearing camouflage trousers and a T-shirt, pointed a pistol at Oliveros, hit him on the head with it, and then pulled him from the car.

The attacker then drove off in the vehicle while Oliveros' five-year-old daughter Monica remained trapped inside, according to the press release.

Monica was subsequently found dumped outside the National Museum with a gun shot wound to her thigh by a Khmer women who took her to Calmette hospital at 11:15 pm.

Monica was subsequently hospitalized in Bangkok and is in a stable condition and recovering but her wound is very painful, said her mother Maria Lourdes.

UN Secretary General's Representative Benny Widyono, when asked if the attack was linked to the UN report on secret prisons in Battambang, said: "The possibility may exist because many people are not happy about the report.

"I cannot answer 'yes' or 'no' because it looked like an ordinary carjacking, the same type of incident has happened to my staff three times already."

He added that the stolen car, which has not yet been recovered by police, was a second-hand sedan worth $3-4,000, so the robbers would not make very much money.

"Maybe there are other motives, only the robbers know. I can't make accusations .... unless the robbers are found," Widyono said.

Interior Minister Hockry said the case was a car theft and maybe not linked to other motives.

King Sihanouk sent a fax to Widyono apologizing for the attack.

Widyono told the Post he wished to thank the King, Prince Sirivudh who rushed to Calmette hospital minutes after Monica was admitted, and the police for their thorough investigation of the case.