Laotians Fear Onslaught

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32253, 23 March 1970, Page 17

Laotians Fear Onslaught

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) VIENTIANE, March 22. Laotian Government planes yesterday divebombed Communist positions in northern Laos while the army dug in to face a new onslaught from North Vietnamese forces which poured across the Plain of Jars a month ago.

Reports reaching Vientiane said that Thai troops were among the reinforcements being flown to the area—the new testing point in SouthEast Asia torn by the Vietnam war and shaken by the recent Cambodian coup. The Communist Pathet Lao said its forces had already killed many Thais in fighting round Sam Thong, 10 miles north of Long Cheng, in northern Laos.

But military officials in Bangkok and the Government in Vientiane denied that Thai troops had entered the country. Only some military officials had been sent in, they said.

In eastern Laos giant American 852 bombers were

joined by United States Navy and Marine Corps planes in more massive raids on the Ho Chi Minh Trail into Vietnam. A United States military spokesman in Saigon announced the loss of the seventh American aircraft over Laos in 11 days.

Reports from Long Cheng said the town’s 25,000 residents were leaving their homes amid fears that the North Vietnamese were about to launch a two-pronged offensive.

The Pathet Lao accused the United States and Thailand of scheming to launch military operations in the Plain of Jars.

Royal Laotian Air Force planes defending Long Cheng, headquarters of the United

States-backed Meo guerrilla army led by General Vang Pao, dive-bombed North Vietnamese forces only a mile from the airstrip there. A Laotian pilot who flew over the area said that Laotian and North Vietnamese forces were fighting about four miles from Long Cheng yesterday.

Denials from Bangkok and Vientiane are similar to previous denials from the United States and -North Vietnam that they had ground forces in Laos.

Conflicting reports about Thai involvement further complicated the confused situation in the 90,000 squaremile kingdom which has a population of 3m and has been torn by intermittent civil

war since independence in 1949.

A high-ranking Communist envoy arrived in Vientiane on Friday with peace proposals. The envoy, Colonel Pradit Tiemkham, of the Pathet Lao, arrived from Hanoi with a message for Premier Souvanna Phouma from Prince Suophanouvong, the Pathet Lao leader.

The Communists proposed a five-point peace plan for Laos earlier this month. This called for a cease-fire, but demanded the withdrawal of Americans and a halt in United States air operations in Laos. It made no mention of the 67,000 North Vietnamese troops who President Nixon says are in Laos.