Guerrillas Attack Government-Held Cambodian Town
Guerrilla forces pounded a key government-held town in northwestern Cambodia with heavy guns Saturday after overrunning front-line positions and surrounding the town with more than 1,000 fighters.
In a pre-dawn attack Friday, the guerrillas mined Route 69--the government’s only access road to the town of Svay Chek--and seized positions east and west of town. Their ultimate objective is Sisophon, 13 miles to the south, a government military operations center for areas along the Thai border.
Friday’s attack was the third and largest on the town by guerrillas of the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front, the front’s chief of staff, Gen. Pan Thai, said Saturday. He promised another big assault this morning.
“This is the most important battle so far for the KPNLF,” he said. “If we do not take Svay Chek tomorrow, we will not withdraw. We will reinforce our positions until we capture Svay Chek.”
Meanwhile in Bangkok, Thailand’s deputy prime minister, Phichai Rattakun, said that Thailand has proposed to Vietnam a new form of power-sharing to settle the conflict in Cambodia. He declined to describe the Thai proposal.
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