Hun Sen finally seizes O'Smach<\/p>\n
CHONG CHOM PASS, Thailand (Agencies): Cambodian troops loyal
\nto strongman Hun Sen overran O'Smach, the last frontier town held
\nby his ousted co-premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh, witnesses said
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
They said a pocket of fewer than 50 of Ranariddh's soldiers
\nabandoned their last position near the border before sunset
\nyesterday, taking with them a portrait of King Norodom Sihanouk
\nfrom a wall of a pavilion on the edge of O'Smach.<\/p>\n
Some of the troops were seen leaving the town on an armored
\npersonnel carrier while others followed on foot, apparently
\nheading toward Anlong Veng, stronghold of the Khmer Rouge who are
\nalso fighting Hun Sen.<\/p>\n
Witnesses said gunfire died down in O'Smach after Ranariddh's
\nforces gave up resistance but journalists monitoring the fighting
\nstill did not see Hun Sen's soldiers moving up to secure the
\nborder.<\/p>\n
Thai military sources estimated that each side lost about 50
\nsoldiers during 10 days of clashes at O'Smach.<\/p>\n
They said at least four wounded Ranariddh supporters were
\npermitted to enter Thailand yesterday for medical treatment. Many
\nof their colleagues had earlier fled into nearby jungles or mixed
\nwith Cambodian civilian refugees taking shelter on the border.<\/p>\n
But Thai military sources did not confirm the fall of O'Smach.<\/p>\n
Fighting was visible from the Thai border inside Cambodia. An
\narmored personnel carrier manned by forces loyal to Ranariddh
\ncould be seen on a ridge 200 meters inside Cambodia firing its
\nmachine gun.<\/p>\n
It was the first time since fighting began nearly two weeks
\nago that such a large number of troops in full battle gear were
\nseen so close to the frontier.<\/p>\n
Thai troops and Border Patrol Police were put on full alert
\nand moved their wood-reinforced bunkers 60 meters back. They
\nmanned machine gun emplacements and kept rocket-propelled grenade
\nlaunchers at hand.<\/p>\n
Thai officers ordered their men to be prepared to fire. They
\nexpressed fear that if Ranariddh's FUNCINPEC forces sought refuge
\non Thai soil, Hun Sen's men would keep shooting in the heat of
\nthe battle.<\/p>\n
A high-ranking Thai officer said Hun Sen's forces -- which had
\nbeen unable to fulfill his orders to take O'Smach by Aug. 15 -
\nwere reinforced with heavy weapons and as many as 500 troops in
\nrecent days. They are believed to number between 3,000 and 7,000,
\ncompared to about 2,000 for Ranariddh.<\/p>\n
Analysts in Phnom Penh said the fall of the royalist
\nstronghold would not necessarily mean an end to the fighting in
\nCambodia.<\/p>\n
They pointed to Hun Sen's remarks earlier this week that he
\nwould seize Anlong Veng from the Khmer Rouge next, and to
\ncomments from government officials who said they were ready to
\ntake on the Khmer Rouge.<\/p>\n
"We will crack down on all anarchic forces," co-Defense
\nMinister Tea Banh said yesterday. "Anlong Veng is the next step."<\/p>\n
Witnesses said O'Smach, a town in northwestern Cambodia close
\nto the Thai border, fell after six hours of intense, close-range
\nfighting. One witness said he heard tens of thousands of rounds
\nof gunfire and mortar shelling exchanged between the two sides.<\/p>\n
Ranariddh's troops said earlier that their leader at O'Smach,
\nGen. Nhiek Bun Chhay, was not with the last defending soldiers.<\/p>\n
Some said he had crossed into Thailand Saturday for medical
\ntreatment.<\/p>\n
Fighting erupted in western Cambodia after Second Prime
\nMinister Hun Sen staged a bloody takeover against Ranariddh in
\nPhnom Penh on July 6. The two had headed an uneasy coalition
\ngovernment that emerged from United Nations-sponsored elections
\nin 1993.<\/p>\n
Hun Sen steadily gained the upper hand across Cambodia, and
\ncornered the last of Ranariddh's forces in O'Smach.<\/p>\n
More than 21,000 Cambodians fled O'Smach through Chong Chom
\nPass into Thailand last week as Hun Sen's soldiers closed in on
\nthe town.<\/p>",
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