No U.S. Comment On Hanoi Sanctuary Report

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31279, 27 January 1967, Page 11

No U.S. Comment On Hanoi Sanctuary Report

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright>

WASHINGTON, January 26.

The Defence Department last night refused to confirm or deny a report that the Johnson Administration had expressly barred United States bomber flights within five miles of Hanoi. An official statement said the report was one of a number of “irresponsible speculative news stories” about Vietnam and added that most of them were “erroneous.”

However, the Department did not say last night’s report was erroneous and implied it regarded as irresponsible any news story dealing with a matter of life or death for American pilots whether it was accurate or not.

The report, by the Associated Press, said the new restrictions on United States pilots resulted from the row which broke out when bombs hit residential areas during raids on military targets near Hanoi on December 13 and 14. Informants said the restriction apparently was issued in response to reports of civilian bombing casualties that

have been widely circulated in the world’s press.

In recent weeks, Harrison E. Salisbury, a “New York Times” assistant managing editor, and William C. Baggs, of the Miami “Daily News” have written on-the-spot accounts of bombing destruction to residential areas in Hanoi and other cities of North Vietnam.

The military targets hit were the Yen Vien railway

yards, four and one-half miles north-east of Hanoi’s city limits, and the Van Dien truck park, two nautical miles south of the city limits. Under the new restrictions, American pilots could fly within five miles of the centre of Hanoi only if engaged in combat with Communist fighters, according to sources quoted by the Associated Press.

The sources also said high level permission had to be obtained before any air raid could be launched within 30 miles from Hanoi. Asked to comment on the report, the Defence Department said: “Targeting orders carry the highest security classifications.

“Most irresponsible speculative news stories of this type are erroneous. We do not intend to deny erroneous speculation and thus confirm by silence those stories which are correct or partially correct.

“Disclosure of targeting orders would jeopardise the lives of American pilots. We will not give the enemy advance information of military value which might permit him to adjust his air defences or might encourage him to shift his war materials from one area to another. To do so would be contrary to the national interest. “For these reasons we have no further comment on this story."