Fog moving to Laos

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32528, 11 February 1971, Page 11

Fog moving to Laos

(N.Z P A -neuter—Copyright) QUANG TRI (South Vietnam), February 10. Heavy mist, and rain which kept American helicopter gunships and aircraft supporting the South Vietnamese incursion into Laos grounded for the last 24 hours, began lifting today and brought hopes of reopening the Khe Sanh base later in the day. But United States meteorologists at this northern logistics base for the American effort supporting the Saigon thrust said that the rain and mist were moving over into Laos where South Vietnamese forces were reported slowly edging forward. The South Vietnamese command in Saigon said that ah airborne position in Laos north-west of Lang Vei, the last base before the Laotian border, was hit by 50 rounds

of North Vietnamese 75 m.m. recoilless rifle fire yesterday but there were no casualties. In the only other incident reported by the Saigon Command, eight North Vietnamese were killed in roughly the same area exact positions were not given. One South Vietnamese paratrooper was killed and three wounded in the clash, the spokesman said. On the first day of the operation on Monday four Americans and six South Vietnamese died when an American helicopter ferrying government troops was shot down on Laotian soil by North Vietnamese marksmen. Reports from the field said that South Vietnamese troops striking toward North Vietnamese supply lines on the Ho Chi Minh trail had established two artillery bases on the Laotian side of the border, one of them 15 miles inside Laos. Once the weather clears, American engineers were set to resume work on lines of communication between Quang Tri and Khe Sanh.