Vietnamese ‘wiped out by Thai air strikes’

Press, 7 April 1983, Page 8

Vietnamese ‘wiped out by Thai air strikes’

NZPA-Reuter, Bangkok A Thai spokesman said yesterday that more than half of a Vietnamese force that crossed into Thailand during the week-end had been killed in air strikes on positions near the Kampuchean frontier. A Foreign Ministry spokesman also dismissed as lies a Vietnamese denial that its soldiers had crossed Thailand during a drive against guerrilla forces. Senior officials in Bangkok said that Thai aircraft had dropped napalm on Vietnamese troops entrenched on a hill straddling the , ill-defined border between Thailand and Kampuchea. Military sources in Bangkok said that napalm, jellied gasoline, had been used by the Air Force for the first time in Indochina since the Vietnam War ended eight years ago, but an Army spokesman later denied it had been dropped. There have been no independent reports on the bombing because Thai authorities have not allowed foreign correspondents and cameramen to the battle zone. A Government spokesman said that more than half the

estimated 150 Vietnamese dug in around the hill at Phnom Pra were “wiped out” by the air strike on Monday. Military analysts said that such a high death toll would tend to confirm the use of napalm, which is mainly employed against deeply entrenched troop lines. Thai Intelligence sources quoted by the “Bangkok Post” newspaper said that reconnaissance squads had found up to 100 bodies. Unconfirmed reports from the frontier area said that Thai forces had driven the Vietnamese from Phnom Pra back into Kampuchea. Bangkok has mounted a diplomatic drive to win international condemnation of Vietnam’s fiercest antiguerrilla drive since it invaded Kampuchea in December 1978. The Foreign Ministry accused Hanoi of carrying out a “cruel and barbarous liquidation” of the Kampuchean people along the Thai frontier and of threatening the security of all south-east Asia. A spokesman said that Thailand had evidence that the Vietnamese went into

Thai territory several times as part of their offensive. The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry denied that its forces had crossed into Thailand and attacked civilians in refugee camps. But it said that “Vietnamese volunteer troops” had helped Kampuchean regulars attacking Khmer Rouge rebels. The Khmer Rouge, overthrown by the invasion four years ago, form the backbone of the anti-Vietnamese guerrilla force. Thai officials said that about 200 civilians, as well as five Thai soldiers, have been killed during the offensive, which began last week. The Vietnamese casualty toll was not known. International relief workers described the situation at the border as calm, and there were no reports of artillery exchanges between Thai and Vietnamese forces late yesterday. The number of casualties reaching internationally-run hospitals in the area had dropped, and injuries were from landmines and bullets, rather than shells. The United States has announced that it is providing SUSI.S million for emergency medical aid.