HOSTAGE OF DAK LAK ARMED GROUP RECALLS CAPTIVITY
Y Dun Bkrong, 19, and two others were taken hostage with guns held to their heads by assailants who attacked People's Committee offices in Dak Lak last week.
In his small home in Cu Kuin District on Saturday, Dun stared an empty stare when someone mentioned the armed groups that kept him hostage.
The murderous attacks on the People's Committee offices in Ea Tieu and Ea Ktur communes resulted in nine deaths, but Dun and two others luckily escaped death after being held hostage for four days while their captors tried to evade police.
At around 1 a.m. on June 11, Dun and five other workers were sleeping at a construction site about 500 m from the People's Committee office in Ea Ktur Commune. They woke up to the sounds of gunfire and people banging on their door, screaming at them to open it. When Dun opened the door, he was immediately incapacitated by a group of masked people wielding guns.
So the armed group ended up taking just three hostages: Dun, Y Yung Bkrong, 18, and Dieu Nguyen, 32. The kidnappers stole motorbikes from the construction site, forced Dun to ride with Yung and an armed person, and threatened to kill them if they did not follow orders.
Over the next three days, the group traveled through the rugged hills of Dak Lak to evade authorities. The hostage takers beat Dun and ordered him not to walk on wet ground or break branches, fearing it would leave traces for police. On June 14, as the group hid in a field, sounds of gunshots could be heard from afar. Dun was rescued by police, and multiple armed people were later arrested.