Rockets Threaten Vientiane

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32235, 2 March 1970, Page 13

Rockets Threaten Vientiane

(S Z.P A -Reuter —Copyright)

VIENTIANE, March 1.

North Vietnamese commandos last night launched a mortar attack near the airfield of the Royal capital of Luang Prabang. About 15 shells exploded without causing any substantial damage, according to sources in Vientiane, who say that no casualties have been reported.

American aircraft have again bombed supply routes on the Plain of Jars and to the east, in an effort to thwart the reinforcement of North Vietnamese forces for strikes deeper into the neutral Asian country .

The authoritative sources in Vientiane who disclosed the new bombing strikes say tt-at the North Vietnamese have advanced far enough into Laos to be within rocket range of) Vientiane. They quote intelligence reports of 122 mm. and 140 mm. rockets a fewmiles north of the capital in an area 70 miles south of the most recent fighting. The last reported was an early-morning clash on Friday between Laotian Government

.mercenaries and a Com- ! munist force nine miles north-east of the Americanrun refugee and logistics centre at San Thong. The Communists overran the position, but lost it to counter-attack by Government ' forces. Moscow Demand • In Moscow, the official Soviet Union news agency, Tass, distributed a statement demanding the immediate halt of American bombing strikes in Laos. “The strikes make any settlement of the war in South Vietnam more difficult," the statement said. There have been more than 1000 sightings of trucks along the Communist supply routes in Laos during the last month.

[ The commander of the Government mercenaries in I the field, Major-General Vang Pao, has steadily pulled back his estimated 8000 troops in the face of the North Vietnamese advance during the last week, and has now strung them out in defensive positions south of the Plain of Jars. The mortar shell attack on the airfield outside the Royal capital is believed to have been launched by North Vietnamese commando units which have been operating in the area, 130 miles north of Vientiane, for a long time. They are not thought to be elements of the regular North Vietnamese Army, which now has strong forces at the western end of the Plain of Jars, 75 miles south-south-east of Luang Prabang. The King of Laos is in Katmandu, where he attended the wedding of Crown Prince Birendra of Nepal, but the Laotian Prime Minister (Prince Souvanna Phouma) was in the Royal capital at the time of the attack, attending the funeral of his cousin. Aides of the Prime Minister who returned with him to Vientiane this morning said that the private funeral ceremony was halted because of the attack. “There was a little panic, but the mortar shells landed a long distance away, and things soon calmed down.” they said. It was the first mortar shell attack on Luang Prabang for almost a year.