Vietnam In Brief

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31662, 24 April 1968, Page 17

Vietnam In Brief

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) SAIGON, April 23. A handful of United States Army troops held off about 500 attacking Communists until help came in a series of battles near Saigon in which 164 Viet Cong were killed, American spokesmen said today. They said most of the fighting erupted in the Mekong Delta yesterday where allied forces drove through a Viet Cong stronghold. But at Ben Luc, a hamlet south-west of Saigon, a United States Army platoon—numbering up to 44 men—lost six men killed and 12 wounded in fending off hundreds of attacking Communists until reinforcements arrived and chased away the enemy force. TEHERAN, April 23. The United Nations Secre-tary-General, U Thant, left Teheran today for New York with no plans to meet North Vietnamese representatives in Paris during a 40-minute stopover there. The Secretary-General told reporters this at Mehrabad Airport here as he left after attending the opening session of the Human Rights Conference. U Thant, who conferred with the Middle East peace envoy, Mr Gunnar Jarring, said that

Mr Jarring would be flying to Jerusalem today to continue his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. NEW YORK, April 23. The United States Defence Secretary, Mr Clark M. Clifford, said yesterday that the increased effectiveness of South Vietnamese forces “will now permit us to level off our effort."

He said the United States would be able to begin gradually reducing the number of American troops in Vietnam “in due time.” Mr Clifford warned Hanoi it had no hope of a military victory in South Vietnam if she would rather fight than talk. But he added there was some reason to hope that peace would be restored after recent contacts between North Vietnam and the United States to arrange for talks. TOKYO, April 23.

North Vietnam, caught in the power struggle between Moscow and Peking, said yesterday it would handle its own problems independent of the two Communist giants. The official Hanoi Communist Party daily, “Nhan Dan" cited the teachings of Lenin in taking a stand that was remin iscent of North Korea’s declaration of independence two years ago.

The official commentary was broadcast by Hanoi Radio as the Soviet Union was urging Hanoi into peace talks with the United States and China was calling on Hanoi to continue the war. It said each Communist party “must firmly preserve its independence” in the Communist world community and added that each should “cooperate with and respect the independence of other Communist parties.”