Word: laos
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...seldom reported war in Laos ebbs and flows with the seasons. In dry weather, the Communist Pathet Lao and their North Vietnamese allies go on the offensive. During the monsoon rains, the more mobile Royal Laotian Army is trucked or helicoptered into battle and usually regains what has been previously lost...
...Harvard graduate, Arthur D. Stillman, and his companions, one American and two Laotians, were killed by a rocket fired into their jeep by Pathet Lao forces. Stillman was the deputy chief of International Voluntary Services in Laos--a volunteer aid organization that works under contract to the U.S. Agency for International Development in the country...
...trouble centers on Muong Soui, an important garrison on the northwestern edge of the strategic Plain of Jars. It straddles vital Route 7, the only good east-west highway in Laos, and controls the gateway to the Upper Mekong as well as access to Route 13, which links the royal capital of Luang Prabang with the administrative capital of Vientiane. Before this year's Communist spring offensive, it was one of three major government outposts in Communist-controlled northeastern Laos. Then, last April, Communist forces began moving on Muong Soui. To relieve the pressure on the garrison, government troops...
Last week the Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese were deeply dug in, and Communist trucks shuttled in daily to keep the troops well supplied...
...reasons behind this year's intensified Communist drive against the Laotians. One is related to Hanoi's overall South Viet Nam strategy: easing military activity in the South but applying fresh pressures elsewhere. A second objective may well be to strengthen the bargaining position of their Pathet Lao allies in eventual negotiations with Souvanna Phouma. Both the Pathet Lao and the Vientiane government have all along maintained that they want to return to a tripartite government. Such a reconciliation could come after the war in Viet Nam draws to a close. It is probably with that in mind...