Battle for Cambodia Camp in 9th Day; Thais Cite 2 Incursions

Vietnamese troops and Cambodian rebels fought for control of a border guerrilla camp for the ninth day Wednesday, and Thailand said it will protest two Vietnamese incursions into its territory.

International Red Cross sources said nine Cambodians were wounded in an artillery barrage against the Nong Samet camp, whose military compound--called Rithisen--is on the Cambodian side of the border.

The sources said the shelling, heard 19 miles away in the main Thai border town of Aranyaprathet, became sporadic as the day wore on.

Vietnamese forces overran the guerrilla camp in a Christmas Day offensive, but rebels of the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front have recaptured about half of it.

Guerrilla sources said that 20 rebels were killed on New Year’s Day and 40 were wounded in heavy fighting for the camp.

The rebel front belongs to a three-party coalition fighting from camps along the Thai border to oust the estimated 160,000 Vietnamese troops in Cambodia. Vietnam invaded Cambodia in December, 1978, and set up a government to its liking in Phnom Penh.

The Thai Foreign Ministry said that a protest over two Vietnamese incursions into Thai territory in pursuit of Cambodian guerrillas will be sent to U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar. A ministry spokesman said he does not know when the protest will be filed.

Thai officials said the most serious incursion took place Monday near the guerrillas’ base of Obok, which is just across the border from Thailand’s Buriram province, 500 miles northeast of Bangkok.

Thai military sources said a patrol of Thai rangers was attacked inside Thailand by Vietnamese forces, who shot and wounded six of the Thais. But other reports circulating in the Thai-Cambodian border area said the six rangers were killed and that the incident may have taken place on the Cambodian side of the frontier.

A second incursion was reported to have taken place Tuesday about four miles south of Aranyaprathet, with Thai and Vietnamese troops clashing with small arms for about 20 minutes before the Vietnamese retreated. No casualties were reported.