ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER CROSSING RIVER ON FERRY AND BEING TOWED UP BANK: YOUNG SOLDIER: COMMANDING OFFICER AND STAFF STUDYING MAP; CARRIERS AND TROOPS ADVANCE FIRING TOWARD JUNGLE; CAPTURED WEAPONS AND NORTH VIETNAMESE SOLDIER WITH IDENTITY CARD: TROOPS CARRY INJURED SOLDIERS: BOMBS EXPLODING; DEAD NORTH VIETNAMESE SOLDIERS AND SOUTH VIETNAMESE TROOPS.




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Background: Despite last year's peace agreement in Paris, North Vietnamese troops are suffering heavy losses in bitter fighting near the Cambodian border.

The South Vietnamese military command reported 12 dead against 134 Communist losses in one day's fighting in the "parrot's beak" Cambodian border area in early May.

The South Vietnamese used bombers and armour in advances in the border area. More than 100 North Vietnamese soldiers were killed in an attack against South Vietnamese armour about 55 miles (85 kilometers) west of Saigon on May 2.

On Friday (10 May) in Saigon, the Viet Cong delegation at the Joint Military Commission to implement the ceasefire said they would not attend further meetings unless their diplomatic privileges and immunities were restored.

Last year's Paris agreement stated that Joint Military Commission delegations should have equivalent privileges and immunities to diplomatic missions. But the South Vietnamese cut the Viet Cong Delegation's telephone wires and cancelled their press conferences when they pulled out of the political talks in Paris in mid April. They said they would only return when the Communists proved their goodwill for peace.