Fighting near Phnom Penh

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33158, 23 February 1973, Page 9

Fighting near Phnom Penh

'V Z. Press Association—CopyrightPHNOM PENH, February 22. More than 200 Cambodian (»o> eminent soldiers were reported killed or captured yesterday as a Communist Khmer Rouge offensive advanced to within 13 miles of the Cambodian capital.

The fighting on the eve of a Laotian cease-fire left Cambodia as the only country in SouthEast Asia where war was technically being carried on. The most violent military activity of the day was on Highway 2 where Khmer Rouge units overran three Government positions, killing or capturing 200 Government soldiers and wounding an-; other 50 troops shortly before dawn. Heavy fighting was still in progress at last report and was spreading south, the command said. On Highway 1. American fighter jets bombed and strafed suspected Communist concentrations 16 miles south-east of Phnom Penh as Government forces reoccupied a half-mile of the roadi to Saigon. Field officers said that troops flown to the southern end of the three-mile stretch occupied by the Communists pushed forward nearly half a mile without encountering any serious resistance. ( Government troops holding the northern forward position appeared to be taking the brunt of the Khmer Rouge attack, field reports said. Khmer Rouge gunners in-

tensified their 840 rocket and 82mm. mortar bombardment of Government positions in the area but no casualty figures were available. Previously. the United States had refused to provide tactical air support on Highway 1. as the area is heavily populated. Field commanders said that the Americans finally succumbed to repeated requests for air support after the situation became “desperate.” Though the Laotian truce raised hopes in Washington and other capitals that a cease-fire might follow soon in Cambodia, the Information Minister. Mr Keam Retit. ruled out mediation by China or North Vietnam. He insisted that North Vietnamese troops — estimated at 23,000 —and the Viet Cong must leave Cambodia.