KHMER REPUBLIC: REFUGEES FLEE FROM THEIR HOMES AS KHMER FORCES CONTINUE TO FLUSH OUT GUERRILLAS

Record ID: 274988

  • Title: KHMER REPUBLIC: REFUGEES FLEE FROM THEIR HOMES AS KHMER FORCES CONTINUE TO FLUSH OUT GUERRILLAS
  • Date: 18th July 1973
  • Summary: 1. GV ZOOM People & ox carts down highway (6 shots) 0.27 2. SV PAN Body on road TO carts 0.32 3. SCU, SV Troops look as refugees walks down highway (2 shots) 0.42 4. SV Refugees on road ZOOM smoke on hilltop 0.50 5. SV PAN soldiers & mortar fire 1.01 6. SV 155 mm guns firing (2 shots) 1.10 7. SV Wounded soldier carried off
  • Embargoed: 2nd August 1973 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Phnom Baset village, Khmer Republic
  • Country: Cambodia
  • Reuters ID: LVA67MUHGJAISB876R715ZE1AX
  • Story Text: United Sates heavy bombers pounded communist positions around Phnom Penh on Tuesday (17 July) as Khmer forces continued their sweeping operations to flush out the guerrillas.

    As the big operation to find the guerrillas continued, more than 3,000 refugees escaped from their homes around the Phnom Penh Baset military base, a small hillside town overlooking Phnom Penh and its airport, and about 14 miles (23 KM) from the capital.

    The refugees escaped on foot and in ox-carts, taking with them whatever they could. The Khmer Republic's crack Seventh Division Artillery Unit did what they could to help get the refugees away safely, sending some of their families to safety aboard military trucks.

    After the first attacks on Tuesday morning, the communist forces cut the main road linking Phnom Baset with the Government Military base, virtually leaving the men from the Seventh Division surrounded, and fighting for their lives. Help from Khmer Government rescue forces was on the way by Tuesday night, but it had only managed to advance one and a quarter miles (2 KM) towards the hill.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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