Taiwan police say few leads on Chen's shooting

TAIPEI - Three days after a mysterious assassination attempt slightly wounded Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, police said they had no leads yet in the attack that created a sympathy vote and apparently ensured his re-election.

Chen won by less than 30,000 votes out of some 13 million cast on Saturday after trailing in opinion polls, a margin so narrow that his Democratic Progressive Party has issued photographs of Chen on the operating table to dampen speculation the shooting was stage-managed.

The presidential office said it would be have been impossible without endangering life to have staged the shots that gouged a cut into Chen's abdomen and notched the knee of Vice-President Annette Lu as they campaigned from the back of an open-top jeep.

"Police are examining hospital records and questioning possible witnesses," said Chao Chong-yue, an official at the district prosecutor's office in southern Tainan city, where the shooting took place.

"But we have no leads so far," Chao told Reuters.

Chao, second in command at the prosecutor's office, said investigators could not speculate on the motive for the shooting, but suspected it was more than simply a disgruntled or deranged attacker.

"Anyone should be able to tell that this is not a simple criminal case," he said. "Can we catch the shooter, and if we do, will he speak the truth?"

A homemade firearm was used and two bullet casings had been found at the scene while one bullet was recovered from Chen's clothing, said Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau, which is collecting evidence in the case.

The shot had been fired under the cover of a barrage of celebratory firecrackers, and Chen and Lu had initially thought they had been hit by a stray burst.

The two had continued to wave to supporters until the president felt his jacket was wet and looked down to see a bloodstain, officials said.

Chen's late discovery of his injury meant police were unable to narrow down the exact location of the shooting for several hours, when the two bullet casings were found on the street.

- REUTERS