Vietnam premier's home targeted by small blast in Feb.
A minor explosion occurred last month in front of the private residence of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Ho Chi Minh City, it was recently learned from government sources.
The blast, which happened around Feb. 10, only damaged a wall of the residential compound and caused no injures, according to the sources.
Given the scale of the explosion and other factors, it was likely an act of harassment and not a terror attack, the sources said.
"It's an act by forces opposed to Prime Minister Dung, who is pushing a reform drive with zero-tolerance toward corruption," said one of the sources.
Such an incident targeting a top leader is rare in Vietnam, which boasts social stability under the one-party rule of the Communist Party.
The state-run news media has made no mention of the incident, while Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung, in a written response to a query from Kyodo News, said his ministry had "absolutely no information" about any such incident.
According to the sources, the early morning explosion in front of Dung's residence in the center of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's southern economic hub, was equivalent to about 300 grams of TNT.
The damage caused to the wall was repaired the following day, so no evidence of the blast remains.
Ho Chi Minh senior police officers have been reprimanded over the blast, according to the sources.
Although details remain sketchy, following the explosion, Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly and lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, who had been calling for a multiparty system and campaigning for democracy, were arrested and detained in succession.
Another explosion occurred Feb. 12 in Tao Dan Park in the center of Ho Chi Minh City, while later the same month another happened in the western area of Hanoi. It is unclear whether any of the three blasts are related.
In addition to pro-democracy activists, dissident groups in Vietnam include overseas Vietnamese critical of the Communist government and ethnic minority groups of the Central Highlands.
An internal government report concluded there was little evidence of the involvement of overseas Vietnamese in the blasts, according to the sources.
Dung normally resides in the prime minister's official residence in Hanoi, but maintains the private residence in Ho Chi Minh City.
Kyodo News - March 18, 2007.
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