Hanoi bombed again

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32977, 25 July 1972, Page 13

Hanoi bombed again

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) SAIGON, July 24. American jets heavily pounded the HanoiHaiphong heartland of North Vietnam yesterday for the second successive day. United ■ States military spokesmen announced today.

The fresh attacks prompted a second statement from the North Vietnamese Foreign Ministry alleging that many factories, economic installations, and a workers’ collective housing area were destroyed in yesterday’s raids and many civilians were killed. The U.S. Command said that it would disclose the targets hit later today. 1 North Vietnam also alleged

that a total of 13 United States planes were shot down in the week-end raids. The U.S. Command did not announce any plane losses and refused to comment on the Hanoi claim.

The command has a policy of withholding announcement of plane losses while search and rescue operations are being carried out. Earlier, United States spokesmen disclosed that Air Force jets swept over Hanoi on Saturday and wrecked two 35-acre Army supply depots in the southern sector of the North Vietnamese capital, smashing at least 13 warehouses and piles of war materials with laser-guided bombs.

N.Z.P.A.-Reuter reported that in the south. Government troops were today locked in battle with Communist forces for the battered Camboaian town of Kornpong Trabek, astride the m. i Saigon-

Phnom Penh highway, military sources said.

Ranger units fought their way into the town last night and occupied the southern half, killing 47 Communist troops. Ranger losses were put at one killed and six wounded.

About 1000 Rangers have been in active service in the area for the last three weeks in an attempt to bite into the Communists’ hold on the highway. Their thrust into Kompong Trabek, about 100 miles north-west of Saigon was the first significant advance since North Vietnamese and Cambodian Communist forces seized a 40-mile stretch of the highway three months ago.

Military sources reported a new flashpoint in the Northern Military region, where Communist troops overran a company post in heavy fighting.