Onslaught on Montagnards

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33046, 13 October 1972, Page 13

Onslaught on Montagnards

(NZ. Press Association—Copyright) SAIGON, October 12. North Vietnamese troope overran a border ranger outpost yesterday, and killed 67 of its mountain tribesmen defenders in a sudden surge of fighting in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. Ninety Montagnard border rangers are missing.

The outpost—to the southwest of Due Co, about eight miles east of the Cambodian frontier, and 215 miles north of Saigon—-is in a Communist stronghold of rugged jungle country. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were again very active elswhere in South Vietnam during the 24 hours to dawn today, making 103 ground, and 82 shelling attacks, including fresh assaults north of Saigon. A Government military spokesman reported today that ranger and infantry units had recaptured most of the town of Ba To, the only district town to fall to the Communists offensive in the coastal province of Quang Ngai. The troops are reported to have secured two-thirds of the town, a former Montagnard tribal village. Far to the south, four North Vietnamese prisoners of war were killed and 14 escaped during a brief mutiny at Phu Quoc, a South Vietnamese island 10 miles off the Cambodian coast. It is the largest prison camp in South Viet-

nam, housing about 35,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. South Vietnamese forces fought their way back into the hamlet of An Hoa, 15 miles north of Saigon, on Wednesday, but failed to recapture Xom Suoi, 22 miles north of the capital, in heavy fighting. Xom Suoi straddles the vital Highway No. 13. American Stratofortress bombers, flying well above Communist anti-aircraft fire, dropped more than 500 tons of explosives round the panhandle ports of Vinh and Dong Hoi yesterday afternoon and overnight. The targets, within seven miles of both cities, were aimed at depots of Communist arms, ammunition, and food supplies intended for North Vietnamese troops fighting below the Demilitarised Zone. The Americans also flew nine heavy-bomber missions within 22 miles north-west, north-east and east of Saigon overnight, against concentrations of Communist troops and supply caches. An estimated 1000 tons of bombs were dropped.