Silent Viet Cong Strikes

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30971, 29 January 1966, Page 15

Silent Viet Cong Strikes

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright)

SAIGON, January 28.

Viet Cong saboteurs in a series of swift and silent night strikes, have blasted a building in the heart of a provincial capital and demolished a bridge just outside Saigon.

The attacks in the last 24 hours indicate a stepping up of the guerrillas’ effective piecemeal offensive, avoiding major clashes, but hitting fast and frequently before melting back into the countryside. The latest target was the conference hall in the provincial capital of Quang Long, about 150 miles south-east of Saigon, used for meetings by leading town officials. Seven Detained The building was destroyed with mines during the night

and seven other charges with timing devices were discovered close by, a South Vietnamese military spokesman said today. Just five miles out of Saigon the Viet Cong shattered a bridge near the Chinese quarter, regularly used by motor traffic entering the city from the southern provinces. Vietnamese rangers in a hunt for the saboteurs detained seven suspected guerrillas—four men and three women. Marine Losses A United States Marine force suffered heavy losses when it ran into a Viet Cong force several times its size near Chu Lai, 300 miles northeast of Saigon. The attack came as the Marines moved out of Chu Lai to set up an ambush.