GUN BATTLE IN OUTSKIRTS OF SAIGON

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30879, 12 October 1965, Page 21

GUN BATTLE IN OUTSKIRTS OF SAIGON

(N Z.P.A -Reuter—Copyright/

SAIGON, Oct. 11.

Police were hunting Viet Cong in the outskirts of Saigon early today after a gun battle only four miles from the city’s central market.

Three policemen and an undercover agent were killed. The guerrillas withdrew. A big sweep by United States and Australian troops went on with no further contact reported after yesterday’s

ambush of a United States paratroop company in which the Viet Cong virtually wiped out the leading 40-man platoon. The platoon was cut down by a hail of shrapnel and machine-gun fire. In Canberra today an army announcement said that one Australian had been

killed and 16 had been wounded in the operation so far. A United States military spokesman said in Saigon that the number of Viet Cong killed yesterday still stood at 46. A total of 63 guerrillas have been killed so far in the operation, now entering its fourth day. About 280 miles to the north-east, what is believed to be the biggest American operation of the war continued. About 20,000 troops of the First United States Cavalry Division, helped by South Vietnamese, swept a Viet Cong area where a regular North Vietnamese division is believed to be lurking. South Vietnam. claims that the crack 325 division came from the north recently.

Little resistance has been met so far, however. Three Viet Cong have been reported killed with light United States casualties. Guerrillas brought down a United States evacuation helicopter over the area yesterday, hitting it in a vital spot with one bullet and forcing it to land. The big United States-Viet-namese operation in the central highlands is in an area 25 miles north-east of An Khe where North Vietnamese troops were reported fighting last week. Troops of the Ist cavalry division were reported chasing a Viet Cong force estimated at more than 500 men. The Ist Cavalry, trained for guerrilla warfare, arrived in Vietnam last month.