Khmer Rouge claim new highs

Press, 28 March 1979, Page 8

Khmer Rouge claim new highs

NZPA-Reuter Bangkok Pro-Peking forces in Kampuchea yesterday said their guerrilla campaign against the Vietnamese-backed Administration in Phnom Penh had reached new heights almost three months after they were ousted from Phnom Penh. Khmer Rouge troops loyal to ousted Mr Pol Pot said that in the third month since the huge Vietnamese-led offensive in January they had expanded reconnaisance activities throughout the country. The Khmer Rouge radio, believed to be broadcasting from southern China, said that in three days ending last Saturday Khmer Rouge

forces had killed 213 Vietnamese troops in various parts of Kampuchea. Reliable reports of what is happening in the warravaged country are difficult to obtain, but diplomatic sources in Bangkok said the Khmer Rouge had stepped up attacks in some areas in recent weeks, although Viet-namese-led forces controlled most of the country. Much of the fighting has been south-west and northwest of Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge last week claimed to have captured Kompong Speu, 40 km west of the capital and to have repulsed a Vietnamese counterattack.

Reliable sources in Bangkok said there might soon be signs of expanded Vietnamese activity, perhaps because the onset of the rainy season in a few months would greatly restrict their movements. The new Phnom Penh Administration’s Vice-President (Mr Pen Sovan) was quoted by the Vietnam News Agency as saying “remnants” of the Pol Pot army were creating what he called disturbances in Kampuchea. The Khmer Rouge radio claimed that the ousted government had developed an increased number of cadres, and said: “The more we fight, the more we progress