‘Troops kill 10 guerrillas’

Press, 12 November 1977, Page 8

‘Troops kill 10 guerrillas’

NZPA Windhoek South African forces killed ten African nationalist guerrillas in the northern Namibian (South-West African) “operational zone” on Wednesday, military headquarters in the Namibian capital of Windhoek have announced. South African forces suffered no casualties in the clash, which involved between 40 and 50 guerrillas, a communique said. A South African patrol came under rocket and mortar fire along the NamibiaAngola border and counterattacked killing ten of the guerrillas, the communique added. It was the second big clash between South African forces and guerrillas of the South-West Africa people’s organisation (5.W.A.P.0.) reported in the past ten days. Seven South African soldiers and 61 guerrillas were reported killed at the end of last month in a 36hour battle across the Na-mibia-Angola border. S.W.A.P.O.'s tactic of deploying concentrations of guerrillas contrasts with its previous practice of infiltrating them into Namibia in small groups, observers say. A senior South African officer has estimated that there are 300 S.W.A.P.O. guerrillas inside Namibia, plus 2000 in southern Angola and 1400 in Zambia.