Locals from Central Highland province Dak Nong have opened fire on a group of company employees who had come to clear an area of disputed land on Sunday morning, killing three and injuring 18 others.

The incident occurred at around 7:30 am on Sunday in Tuy Duc District, Dak Nong Province, when workers and security guards from Long Son Company came to the area to carry out land clearance for the company’s agricultural project.

The site lies at the border of Quang Truc and Dak Ngo Communes in the District.

“We had just arrived when we were surrounded by dozens of locals, three of whom were armed with shotguns and started opening fire on the workers,” Nguyen Thanh Hung, 18, one of the security guards at the scene, recalled.

Three security guards were immediately gunned down, Hung said, while others fleeing for their lives were also hit by bullets. Hung himself was shot in the stomach.

Fellow employees who came to the victims’ aid could not approach the scene, as the angry locals threatened to open fire at any company employee, Hung’s father Nguyen Van Bon, who also works as a security guard for Long Son Company said.

The dead and injured were not taken to hospital until 11 am, when police arrived at the scene and negotiated with the angry residents, Bon said.

Eighteen injured employees were admitted to local medical facilities for treatment, four of whom suffering from severe injuries and were later transferred to Dak Nong Province General Hospital.

The four, Nguyen Thanh Hung, Dieu Duy, Dieu An, and Dieu Ka, received multiple injuries to the head, stomach and chest areas, the hospital’s deputy director Bui Chi Trung said.

A senior official of Dak Ngo Commune who responded to the incident said locals had camped at the site in advance in order to ambush the group of workers and security guards from Long Son Company.

“They forced [the employees] to get undressed before tying them up. Those who did not comply were shot,” the official said.

Two of those gunned down were from ethnic minorities who reside in Bu Dang District in Binh Phuoc Province, which borders Dak Nong Province to the south.

Nguyen Van Bon (R) and his son Nguyen Thanh Hung, both security guards at Long Son Company, at Dak Nong Province General Hospital. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The road leading to Dak Ngo Commune in Tuy Duc District, Dak Nong Province. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A satellite map illustrating the location of the incident (Click for full-sized map). Photo: Google Maps

The last straw

The site of the clash is completely isolated from other parts of Tuy Duc District, 20 kilometers from the district’s center and only accessible via a muddy road.

Sunday’s incident was the culmination of a two-month long land dispute between Long Son Company and the locals, who a few days before had gathered in hundreds at the site to protest the company’s project.

Dozens of residents in the area had signed a complaint letter to local and state authorities denouncing the company for destroying their coffee and cashew tree farms and digging trenches cutting through roads leading to the site.

In previous clashes, locals had always been the underdogs, beaten and even detained by company employees, the complaint letter reads.

Police are still on the hunt for the four residents directly responsible for the killing of three Long Son Company employees, and those involved in the incident are being called in for questioning, Deputy Chief of Dak Nong Police Col. Luong Ngoc Nep said.

Long Son Company representative Nghiem Xuan Thien Suu said the company was unavailable for comment for the time being as it was focusing on dealing with the consequences of the incident.

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