New battle kills 370 -Hanoi

Press, 25 February 1978, Page 8

New battle kills 370 -Hanoi

NZPA-Reuter Bangkok Vietnamese forces have killed 370 Cambodians in the latest reported flare-up along the two communist countries’ border, Hanoi’s official voice of Vietnam Radio has said. A news bulletin said “Many regiments” of Cambodian troops had crossed into Vietnam on a three-province front on February 16. The bulletin named lay Ninh, Song Be, and GialaiKontum provinces, all involved in earlier border clashes between the two former allies. The Vietnamese side had killed 370 Cambodians, “captured many others, and seized a large quantity of weapons,” the Voice of Vietnam said. The Cambodian main force had retreated across the border after the battle, it said. The official radio said low-level clashes and sporadic shelling had continued in the embattled provinces and elsewhere last week, and the shelling had “killed many civilians and destroyed much property.” As usual, Vietnam did not report its own military losses. Phnom Penh’s official radio on Thursday reported continued skirmishes and one battalion-size probe by the Vietnamese forces in recent days, but made no mention of the battle reported by Vietnam.