3 Towns Taken, Guerrillas in Cambodia Say

Cambodian guerrillas claimed Saturday to have scored their biggest victory in 10 years with the capture of three towns and 10 other government positions in Cambodia.

Specific claims could not be confirmed by independent sources. But Western sources at the Thai-Cambodian border confirmed that one guerrilla faction, the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front, made major gains against Cambodian government forces.

The claims came less than a week after Vietnam said its last troops had left Cambodia, where they fought the guerrillas for more than a decade.

Abdulgaffar Peang-Meth, spokesman for the Liberation Front, said 5,000 fighters launched attacks against five towns and other positions along Highway 69, which runs parallel to the Thai-Cambodian border in northwestern Cambodia.

A second guerrilla faction, loyal to resistance leader Prince Norodom Sihanouk, said it had joined the Liberation Front in a “general offensive” and had taken part in some of the fighting Saturday.

A Sihanouk spokesman, Bounthy Ung, said the Khmer Rouge--the Communist faction in the three-faction coalition--had not joined in the fighting.

The groups are fighting the Cambodian government in a loose coalition led by Sihanouk.

A Western relief official said heavy shelling could be heard during the day near Aranyaprathet, a key border town.

The acting Liberation Front commander in chief, Gen. Dien Del, said the insurgents damaged a number of tanks, overran 10 Phnom Penh army positions flanking Highway 69 and seized the district capital of Thmar Puok, which the Vietnamese army had left just six days ago as part of its withdrawal from Cambodia.

Bounthy Ung also said the fighters had taken Phom Srok, a district seat about 40 miles inside Cambodia from the Thai border.

Dien Del said his forces seized Banteay Chmar and were closing in on two other towns, Svey Chiek and Kandoun, and had surrounded Sisophon, at the strategic crossroad of Highway 69 and national Route 5, which leads to Phnom Penh.

Dien Del said the guerrillas intend to test the strength of the Cambodian government and “force Phnom Penh to the negotiating table. Today is a very big day for the KPNLF. It is the largest victory in 10 years.”

He said the attackers suffered few casualties.