Arms factory seized

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32462, 24 November 1970, Page 15

Arms factory seized

ffi.Z. Press Association— Copyright) PHNOM PENH, Nov. 23. Communist forces seized a strategic pass on the highway linking Phnom Penh to the sea and seized the country’s only munitions factory nearby, a Government spokesman said today, the Associated Press reported.

The spokesman, Lieuten- 1 ant-Colonel Am Rong, said I that an enemy force massed in the Elephant Range poured , rocket, mortar and machine- , gun fire into the battalion of , Government troops holding the factory at Stung Chral— , 60 miles south-west of Phnom Penh. The Communist forces also pushed back Cambodian troops guarding the vital Pich Nil Pass, 62 miles southwest of Phnom Penh.

Hundreds of guerrillas attacked the pass, and the Highway Four supply route which runs through it, on Saturday. Launching heavy attacks from forest-covered hills on both sides of the pass, the guerrillas bombared a Government battalion with 74 mm. recoiless rifle-fire and 82 mm. mortar'rounds. The attacks continued through Saturday night and into yesterday morning. Highway 4 was mined to the east of the pass and a bridge blown up to the west of the pass to block Government reinforcements.

The Cambodians made an orderly withdrawal yesterday morning after holding out all night, he said, and when they left they blew up the Czechbuilt factory and ammunition stocks. The spokesman said that he had no details of casualties in the fighting for the factory which manufactured cartridges for French, World War II single-shot rifles. Highway 4, which leads to Cambodia’s only deep-water port of Ko Pong Som, has been described by officials as a lifeline for raw materials and the country’s economy. The Cambodian troops had destroyed radios and ammunition at thetr defensive position at the western end of the pass before withdrawing

to avoid being trapped by the guerrillas. Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops are now in control of the pass, the spokesman said. Colonel Am Rong said that Government troops were attempting to dislodge them and clear the road.