Uganda claims victory
(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright)
KAMPALA, September 20. An invasion force from neighbouring Tanzania retreated in disarray today before advancing Ugandan troops, a military spokesman said.
He said that the invaders suffered heavy casualties. The spokesman said at least 450 people had been killed, including 300 invaders and 150 civilians, in three days of fighting in the border area between the two countries.
The dead included Louis Morton, aged 23, an American Peace Corps volunteer, killed when Ugandan forces opened fire on his vehicle, Peace Corps officials in Washington said. They said that Robert Freed, aged 23, another Peace Corps worker riding with Mr Morton, suffered superficial wounds.
A British High Commission
spokesman in Kampala said that at least 25 foreigners, mostly Britons and Americans detained for questioning during the fighting, still were in gaol. Peace Corps officials in Washington said that five Peace Corps volunteers were among those arrested. Two former volunteers were detained but later released, the officials said. A military spokesman said that the force which Ugandan officials say invaded the country from Tanzania on Sunday—with estimates on those involved running from 700 to 1500—was now “on the run.”
He said that Ugandan troops yesterday recaptured the border town of Mutukula, the first of six towns overrun by the invaders, and routed enemy forces around Masaka, 80 miles west of Kampala.
In the Tanzanian capital of Dar-es-Salaam, a United Press International correspondent, David Martin, said yesterday that the invaders had dug in along the border areas and were “apparently holding their own.” Martin said that the original invasion force consisted of Ugandans who followed Dr Milton Obote into exile when President Idi Amin ousted him from power in January, 1971.
Tanzania has moved 1000 of its own troops to the border under strict orders not to cross the frontier or provoke incidents with Ugandan forces.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33027, 21 September 1972, Page 15
Word Count
310Uganda claims victory Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33027, 21 September 1972, Page 15
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