Word: thakhek
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...Moscow is eager to maintain an influence in Laos to prevent it from falling into Peking's orbit) and Viet Nam's forces increased to about 40,000 troops. In early June, five battalions of Vietnamese regulars took up positions along the road from Vientiane to Thakhek. But as Hanoi's presence grows, so does the traditional Laotian hostility to the Vietnamese. In early spring, Vietnamese troops killed 20 Pathet Lao soldiers who had tried to inspect a convoy of wood heading for Viet Nam. Observes a Western diplomat in Bangkok: "Now even the Communists in Laos...
...Communist forces in Laos. The strikes were aimed at suspected concentrations of North Vietnamese troops. For their part, the North Vietnamese pulled troops off the Ho Chi Minh Trail and arranged them in offensive positions against the Royal Laotian Army. The most serious threat was to the junction of Thakhek, which was encircled by nine battalions of Communist troops...
...northern Laos, two Communist battalions struck last week at government positions north of the royal capital of Luangprabang, having taken the strategic valley of Nam Bac in January. In central Laos, two battalions of mixed North Vietnamese and local Communist Pathet Lao forces were thrown back just outside Thakhek on the border of northeast Thailand-a threat so close to home that Thai Foreign Minister Thanat Khoman warned Hanoi that the Thais might have to take direct action to aid Laos. Worst of all is the situation in southern Laos, where North Vietnamese forces have cut road links, launched mortar...
Laotian troops trying to maintain a semblance of sovereignty over their own territory also hit tough resistance when they pushed toward the trail around Thakhek and Savannakhet. Last month Royal Laotian T-28s trapped a company of mixed Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese troops in the open near Thakhek, killing dozens of the "Laoviet" with their 500-lb. bombs, while ground forces pinned another 40 in a nearby cave. Last week 14 of the North Vietnamese prisoners were on display in Vientiane...
...hung up on the political bickering of the antiCommunists. Souvanna has survived three major attempts to overthrow his government in the past four months, and rightist bands loyal to exiled Deputy Premier Phoumi Nosavan-in Thailand since February's coup attempt-still prowl the countryside between Paksane and Thakhek...