North Says Navy Hit Civilians

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31306, 28 February 1967, Page 17

North Says Navy Hit Civilians

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) TOKYO, Feb. 27. North Vietnam claimed today that United States Navy shelling of coastal targets yesterday caused civilian casualties—but North Vietnamese shore batteries hit one American warship, setting it on fire, the Associated Press reported. The claims were North Vietnam’s first official reaction to the introduction of United States naval bombardment of North Vietnam. A United States spokesman in Saigon yesterday said that the shellings would supplement air strikes against the Communist North. The official Vietnam News

Agency said that North Vietnam sent an “urgent message” to the International Control Commission, protesting at the naval bombardment. The message described the shellings as “a new and extremely serious step of war escalation” taken by the United States. The agency denounced the naval action and a United States military statement in Saigon that a sector of North Vietnam bordering the demilitarised zone had been designated a “free strike zone.” The agency said that the United States warship was hit by military units in Thanh Hoa province while it shelled the population “in a number of coastal areas of the province.”

The batteries also “put to flight” other vessels engaged in the naval assault.