PHNOM PENH, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The gunman who shot at mass protesting Cambodian garment workers and injured three female workers earlier this week has not been identified, said the police chief of Svay Rieng's Bavet city on Wednesday.
The Monday's shooting happened at the Manhattan Special Economic Zone (SEZ) situated in Bavet city when some 3,000 workers from three factories, namely Kingmaker Footwear, Kaoway Sports, and Sheico, were protesting for salary increase.
"So far, the investigation is underway and the identity of the shooter is still unknown. We only know that the man is a civilian, not in armed forces," Keo Kong, police chief of Bavet city, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
He said the perpetrator with a pistol approached the protesting workers by a car and fired to them before he escaped into the nearby Acacia forest.
Keo Kong said, according to Cambodia's legislature, civilians are prohibited from weapon possession. The reason for the armed civilian remains unknown.
The three victims in the shooting are Buot Chenda, 21, who is in critical condition after shot on her chest and exited her back. The two others are Keo Nea and Nuth Sakhorn, who were shot slightly injured.
Speaking at the opening of the Interior Ministry's annual conference on Tuesday, the Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said the government was very sorry to see such incident happened and vowed to bring the wrong-doer to legal punishment.
He said the bloody event would be likely to affect Cambodia's bid for a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in the 2013-2014 term.
"The incident in Svay Rieng and the one in Kratie province last month, a company's security guard fired at protesting villagers in land dispute, will make international community think that Cambodia has violence, human rights abuse, and forced evictions in land disputes... These incidents would affect Cambodia's diplomatic policy."
At the meantime, the minister denied any police's involvement in the shooting.
"The police have obligations to maintain security and public order, we are not ought to shoot civilians," he said.
Lawyer Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of NGO-Cambodian Defenders Project, said Wednesday that the shootings reflected police's inability to safeguard unarmed protesting workers and mirrored the government's weakness in weapon control.
"The police said the gunman is a civilian, why does he have weapon?" he questioned. "To restore police's credit, they must hunt the wrong-doer for legal procedures, or the case will send Cambodia's bad image to international community -- the culture of impunity for perpetrators."
Svay Rieng is located some 167 kilometers Southeast of Phnom Penh and bordered by Vietnam.
Garment industry is the country's largest income maker. The sector earned total revenues of 4.24 billion U.S. dollars last year, representing 87 percent of the country's total exports.
The whole industry consisted of more than 300 factories, employing more than 300,000 people, mostly women from rural areas.
Low wages and poor working conditions have led to frequent strikes in this Southeast Asian nation. The minimum monthly wage for a worker is 66 U.S. dollars.
The Monday's shooting happened at the Manhattan Special Economic Zone (SEZ) situated in Bavet city when some 3,000 workers from three factories, namely Kingmaker Footwear, Kaoway Sports, and Sheico, were protesting for salary increase.
"So far, the investigation is underway and the identity of the shooter is still unknown. We only know that the man is a civilian, not in armed forces," Keo Kong, police chief of Bavet city, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
He said the perpetrator with a pistol approached the protesting workers by a car and fired to them before he escaped into the nearby Acacia forest.
Keo Kong said, according to Cambodia's legislature, civilians are prohibited from weapon possession. The reason for the armed civilian remains unknown.
The three victims in the shooting are Buot Chenda, 21, who is in critical condition after shot on her chest and exited her back. The two others are Keo Nea and Nuth Sakhorn, who were shot slightly injured.
Speaking at the opening of the Interior Ministry's annual conference on Tuesday, the Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said the government was very sorry to see such incident happened and vowed to bring the wrong-doer to legal punishment.
He said the bloody event would be likely to affect Cambodia's bid for a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in the 2013-2014 term.
"The incident in Svay Rieng and the one in Kratie province last month, a company's security guard fired at protesting villagers in land dispute, will make international community think that Cambodia has violence, human rights abuse, and forced evictions in land disputes... These incidents would affect Cambodia's diplomatic policy."
At the meantime, the minister denied any police's involvement in the shooting.
"The police have obligations to maintain security and public order, we are not ought to shoot civilians," he said.
Lawyer Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of NGO-Cambodian Defenders Project, said Wednesday that the shootings reflected police's inability to safeguard unarmed protesting workers and mirrored the government's weakness in weapon control.
"The police said the gunman is a civilian, why does he have weapon?" he questioned. "To restore police's credit, they must hunt the wrong-doer for legal procedures, or the case will send Cambodia's bad image to international community -- the culture of impunity for perpetrators."
Svay Rieng is located some 167 kilometers Southeast of Phnom Penh and bordered by Vietnam.
Garment industry is the country's largest income maker. The sector earned total revenues of 4.24 billion U.S. dollars last year, representing 87 percent of the country's total exports.
The whole industry consisted of more than 300 factories, employing more than 300,000 people, mostly women from rural areas.
Low wages and poor working conditions have led to frequent strikes in this Southeast Asian nation. The minimum monthly wage for a worker is 66 U.S. dollars.
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