Slow drive pins guerrillas down

Press, 6 August 1980, Page 8

Slow drive pins guerrillas down

NZPA-Reuter Bangkok Vietnamese-led troops in western Kampuchea have brought up reinforcements to help in their attack on an important base of guerrillas loyal to the ousted Khmer Rouge regime near the Thai border, Thai military sources have said.

They said that at least two battalions of Vietnamese troops — more than 1000 men — had joined in the attack on the base of Phnom Malai just south of the eastern Thai border town of Aranyaprathet, 280 km east of Bangkok. Elements of at least three regiments have been attacking Phnom Malai for more than six weeks in a slow, grinding drive that appears to have pinned the guerrillas against the Thai border.

The sources said the two sides were involved in frequent skirmishes and the Vietnamese-led forces fired regular artillery barrages at the Khmer Rouge positions. The attack on Phnom Malai is part of widespread Vietnamese-led drives against the guerrillas along almost the entire length of the Thai-Kampuchean border.

The operations were launched shortly after a Vietnamese-led incursion into eastern Thailand north of Aranyaprathet in June. Diplomatic sources said it appeared that the attacks were timed to prevent the guerrillas carrying their war of resistance deeper into the country during the monsoon season.