Heavily armed gangs attacked two police stations in Vietnam on Sunday, killing nine officers and wounding a number of police and bystanders.
The Vietnamese government responded with massive raids on Monday morning, taking at least 26 alleged gang members into custody and confiscating both handguns and rifles.
The attacks occurred in the central province of Dak Lak, where police headquarters in two different communes in the Cu Kuin district came under fire on Sunday. Vietnamese state media described the attackers as a large group of “around 40 people wearing camouflage vests” who split up to hit both stations at roughly the same time.
Two Vietnamese state papers initially reported the attackers shot the driver of a pickup truck and stole his vehicle to use in the attack, but both of them withdrew that report soon afterward for unknown reasons. Some reports said many of the gang members were riding motorcycles.
“In Vietnam, the Communist Party exercises absolute rule and anti-government activities are rare. Large-scale attacks on police stations are very unusual,” Japan’s NHK News pointed out on Monday. It is even more unusual for such attacks to involve firearms, as the authoritarian government long ago disarmed its population.
The Bangkok Post noted the area has long been “considered a sensitive area for Vietnam’s authoritarian government” and has “long been a hotbed of discontent over issues that include land rights.”
“Some tribes in the area – collectively known as Montagnards – sided with the U.S.-backed south during Vietnam’s decades-long war. Some are calling for more autonomy, while others abroad advocate independence,” the Bangkok Post added.
The Montagnards are one of the most oppressed minorities in modern-day Vietnam, subject to “constant surveillance and other forms of intimidation, public criticism, arbitrary arrest and mistreatment in security force custody,” according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The Montagnards are mostly Christian, practicing local versions of their faith that have been denounced as “evil ways” by the Communist government. Authorities often tell imprisoned Montagnards to abandon their traditions and practice religions that the state approves of.
The clashes over land use the Bangkok Post mentioned often pertain to coffee beans, the most important cash crop in the area. Local coffee farmers complain of excessive taxes and unfair contracts with landowners, who the communist government directly authorized to dispense land rights as they see fit.
On Tuesday, the Vietnamese government granted posthumous “Fatherland Acknowledges the Merit” awards to six of the “martyrs” who were killed in the Cu Kuin attacks. Four of the officers were also promoted to higher ranks.