KHMER REPUBLIC: KHMER TROOPS ENGAGE ENEMY FORCES IN PHNOM PENH AFTER ROCKET ATTACK ON THE CITY

Record ID: 647436

  • Title: KHMER REPUBLIC: KHMER TROOPS ENGAGE ENEMY FORCES IN PHNOM PENH AFTER ROCKET ATTACK ON THE CITY
  • Date: 10th May 1972
  • Summary: 1. GV & MV Troops on tank facing building (2 shots) 0.06 2. SV Civilians leaving Phnom Penh 0.11 3. GV Building where Communists hiding and troops firing at building (5 shots) 0.27 4. GV PAN..& SV.. burning wreckage of buildings (3 shots) 0.42 5. MV Wrecked car 0.45 6. SV PAN..refugees leaving town (2 shots) 1.02 7. GROUND TO AIR.. C-47 firing 1.07 8. SV PAN..dead civilian being carried 1.18 9. GV PAN & SV.. soldiers in truck passing dead communists on Highway Two (3 shots) 1.33 10. GV Troops over fields near Highway Two 1.36 11. GROUND TO AIR.. C-47 overhead 1.41 12. GV PAN..troops across fields 1.47 Initials ES. 1350 ES. 1415 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th May 1972 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PHNOM PENH & HIGHWAY TWO, KHMER REPUBLIC
  • Country: Cambodia
  • Reuters ID: LVA74F57GL2BS2RFYU9M8YPY9VJC
  • Story Text: Twenty-three people were killed and 138 were wounded, after a North Vietnamese rocket attack on the city early on Saturday (6 May). Khmer Republic Information Minister Long Boret said many of the rockets fell on residential areas of the city.

    The 122mm and 240mm rockets also hit Phnom Penh's Pochentong Airport, damaging one aircraft and a hanger. A petrol depot south of the city centre was also burned down in the attack.

    The Information Minister said four North Vietnamese troops were killed and another captured, before the communists withdrew from their positions. Khmer troops carried out sweeping operations both north and south of the capital, following the rocket attack.

    It was later reported that North Vietnamese forces had taken the town of truck Means in Kampot Province, 70 miles (110 kms) south of Phnom Penh and only nine miles (15 kms) from the South Vietnamese border.

    In South Vietnam, fierce fighting was reported at the key Ben Het Border Ranger station in the Central Highlands on Wednesday (10 May). A Saigon High Command spokesman said that North Vietnamese troops, supported by tanks and artillery, had been beaten back.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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