CAMBODIA Govt troops in retreat

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33516, 23 April 1974, Page 15

CAMBODIA Govt troops in retreat

(N.Z. Press .Association—Copyright

PHNOM PENH. April 22.

Forty Cambodian Government soldiers are reported killed after an attack by Khmer Rouge insurgents forced Government troops to withdraw from defensive positions at Kompong Luong.

Many Government soldiers are wounded and hundreds of others are still missing, says the Cambodian Military Command.

The command spokesman said today that some of the troops succeeded in linking up with a column from the encircled garrison town of Longvek, two miles to the north.

Kompong Luong is situated on the western bank of the Tonle Sap River, 23 miles north of Phnom Penh. Fierce fighting has been reported for more than a month around the beach-head. The defensive position was isolated a week ago. when Khmer Rouge insurgents blocked the Tonle Sap waterway by stringing wire and

i mines across the river at Kruos village, about II miles north of Phnom Penh. The command said that four 105 mm howitzers, engineering materials and two naval boats were destroyed before the evacuation of 'Government troops. Military sources said that the insurgents attacked yesi terday, firing hundreds of 105 mm high explosive shells. 75mm cannon and mortar rounds into the camp. Several rounds scored a direct hit on Government fuel storage tanks.

Seven Government armoured personnel carriers were destroyed by armourpiercing 840 rockets during the breakout.

The fate of the wounded soldiers, trapped inside the camp since Tuesday, is still unknown. About 2000 Government troops are manning defensive positions in the area.

The Saigon Command said today that South Vietnamese Government troops have recaptured a firebase in the Central Highlands, lost to North Vietnamese forces a week ago. A spokesman said that relief forces met only sporadic resistance from Communist troops when they moved in under an artillery barrage yesterday.

Four Communists were killed in re-taking Hill 711. a firebase forming part of the defence system centred on Plei Me Ranger base camp in the Central Highlands [province of Pleiku. The position fell to Comimunist forces on Tuesday [last week, after a two-day battle in which over 600 on [both sides were killed, wounded or missing.