Human rights group urges FBI to re-investigate Cambodia grenade attack

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: A New York-based human rights group urged the FBI to reopen a probe into a grenade attack that killed more than a dozen Cambodians and wounded an American a decade ago.

Human Rights Watch made the appeal Thursday, a day ahead of the 10th anniversary of the grenade attack on a peaceful demonstration led by opposition leader Sam Rainsy on March 30, 1997.

"This brazen attack carried out in broad daylight ingrained impunity in Cambodia more than any other single act in the country's recent history," Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia director, said in a statement.

The statement also "urged the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to reopen its investigation of the attack."

No one has been arrested over the assault that killed at least 16 people and wounded 114 others, when four grenades were tossed into a crowd of anti-government demonstrators outside the Cambodian National Assembly in the capital, Phnom Penh.

No official death toll was ever released.

Sam Rainsy, who led the demonstration, escaped unharmed.

U.S. citizen Ron Abney was among the wounded, prompting an FBI probe. However, the FBI has never released the final version of its report on the case.

In the Human Rights Watch statement, Adams said "the FBI launched the only investigation into the attack, but the U.S. has inexplicably dropped it.".

"The U.S. government should insist that the FBI return to complete its investigation. Family members of the victims are still waiting for justice," he said.

Sam Rainsy had previously accused Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen of being behind the attack, but later recanted the allegation.

The Human Rights Watch statement said that on the day of the attack the Cambodian police force — which had routinely kept a high profile at opposition demonstrations to discourage public participation — had been unusually absent, and that officers had grouped around the corner from the park where the rally was held.

However, Hun Sen's personal bodyguards had been "for the first time" deployed at a demonstration, the statement said, implying they were there to help the attackers escape.

Hun Sen has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack.