An attack by gunmen on a bus in northern Laos killed five passengers and wounded more than ten others, state-owned radio reported today.
National Laos Radio said police shot dead five gunmen after the weekend ambush on the bus running between Xam Nua and Viangxai, a Communist stronghold during the Vietnam War. Several gunmen escaped into the jungle.
The radio said police believed the attack was motivated by what they termed a business conflict, but an Asian diplomat in the Laos capital said the assailants could have been opium growers forced out of business by state-enforced relocations.
"They have been forced to relocate from the hills to the lower land and ordered to replace opium cultivation with other crops," said the diplomat, who declined to be identified. "But the lack of water and irrigation system put them in poverty and could have forced them to rob".
There have been a string of bus attacks in northern Laos this year.
In April, at least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded when gunmen attacked a bus full of local holiday-makers who were travelling between the tourist town of Luang Prabang and the capital Vientiane. Ten people, including two Swiss tourists, were killed when gunmen attacked a bus in the same area in February.
Laos Radio said there were no foreign nationals on the bus involved in the latest attack.