TROOPS TAKE SAM TEE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29004, 18 September 1959, Page 11

TROOPS TAKE SAM TEE

Communist Forces Expelled (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) VIENTIANE, September 17. Laotian troops lost, then recaptured and are still holding Sam Ten, an important town in south-east Sam Neua Province, die Laotian Minister of. Defence (Colonel Phoumi Nosa van) said in Vientiane today, according to British United Press. A Communist force of between 600 and 800 mixed Vietminh and Pathet Lao troops captured the town last Saturday. On Sunday, Royal Laotian troops attacked the enemy positions, recapturing the town.

Fighting is still continuing there, according to the latest reports, but it is not known how serious it is. The Laotian Government has one company of infantry plus some irregular troops, totalling about 400 men defending Sam Teu, Colonel Nosavan said. The United Nations fact-find-ing sub-committee in Laos will not begin to investigate Laotian charges of aggression by Communist North Vietnam for several days, an official spokesman said in Vientiane today. He said the sub-committee’s first step would be to examine the Laotian Government’s documents pf the alleged aggression, but these would not be available for several days. The next step would be decided after the documents had been examined. The Laotian Government has imposed a curfew on restaurants, bars, theatres and night clubs in Vientiane. Reports in Vientiane quoted by British United Press said the Government took the precaution because it feared pro-Communist rebels were about to launch a wave of terrorist activity in Vientiane. Vietnam Protest North. Vietnam’s Premier (Mr Pham Van Dong) has sent a letter to the Laotian Premier (Mr Phoui Sananikone) “energetically” protesting against four alleged violations of North Vietnam air space by Laotian planes, Hanoi Radio reported today. The letter, sent on Monday, alleged these occurred on September 1 and 11 and twice on September 12, in north central North Vietnam, and claimed that

they brought the total of such violations from August, 1958, to September, 1959, to 46. Mr Ham demanded that the Laotian Government “put an immediate end to such provocations,” and added that it must bear “full responsibility for all the grave consequences.”