Missiles Fired Into Saigon

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32028, 1 July 1969, Page 15

Missiles Fired Into Saigon

(N.Z.P.A .-Reuter—Copyright)

SAIGON, June 30.

Nine civilians were wounded when Viet Cong guerrillas fired three rocket missiles into Saigon during the night—the sixth such attack against the capital this month.

A South Vietnamese military spokesman said that the missiles landed in a populated area near the Airborne Division’s headquarters, three miles north-west of the city centre.

North Vietnamese troops yesterday eased their pressure on the besieged Ben Het outpost in the Central Highlands. Only 20 shells hit the post, compared with 53 the day before and 236 on Friday.

A United States military spokesman said the fire yesterday was from 75mm. recoilless rifles, indicating that North Vietnamese mortar and rocket-grenade teams had moved out of range of the camp. Stratofortress bombers continued their daily pounding of North Vietnamese positions near Ben Het, which is seven miles from the border junction of Laos and Cambodia.

About 900 tons of bombs were dropped in five missions yesterday. The giant planes have flown more than 100 missions in support of the lonely outpost since it came under siege on May 6. The latest shelling caused no further casualties among the 250 Americans in the camp, and only light casualties among the irregular militia garrison of some 500 South Vietnamese Montagnard tribesmen. Six similar attacks were made during the night elsewhere in South Vietnam, the spokesman said, but they caused very little damage.