Hun Sen finally seizes O'Smach

Hun Sen finally seizes O'Smach

CHONG CHOM PASS, Thailand (Agencies): Cambodian troops loyal
to strongman Hun Sen overran O'Smach, the last frontier town held
by his ousted co-premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh, witnesses said
yesterday.

They said a pocket of fewer than 50 of Ranariddh's soldiers
abandoned their last position near the border before sunset
yesterday, taking with them a portrait of King Norodom Sihanouk
from a wall of a pavilion on the edge of O'Smach.

Some of the troops were seen leaving the town on an armored
personnel carrier while others followed on foot, apparently
heading toward Anlong Veng, stronghold of the Khmer Rouge who are
also fighting Hun Sen.

Witnesses said gunfire died down in O'Smach after Ranariddh's
forces gave up resistance but journalists monitoring the fighting
still did not see Hun Sen's soldiers moving up to secure the
border.

Thai military sources estimated that each side lost about 50
soldiers during 10 days of clashes at O'Smach.

They said at least four wounded Ranariddh supporters were
permitted to enter Thailand yesterday for medical treatment. Many
of their colleagues had earlier fled into nearby jungles or mixed
with Cambodian civilian refugees taking shelter on the border.

But Thai military sources did not confirm the fall of O'Smach.

Fighting was visible from the Thai border inside Cambodia. An
armored personnel carrier manned by forces loyal to Ranariddh
could be seen on a ridge 200 meters inside Cambodia firing its
machine gun.

It was the first time since fighting began nearly two weeks
ago that such a large number of troops in full battle gear were
seen so close to the frontier.

Thai troops and Border Patrol Police were put on full alert
and moved their wood-reinforced bunkers 60 meters back. They
manned machine gun emplacements and kept rocket-propelled grenade
launchers at hand.

Thai officers ordered their men to be prepared to fire. They
expressed fear that if Ranariddh's FUNCINPEC forces sought refuge
on Thai soil, Hun Sen's men would keep shooting in the heat of
the battle.

A high-ranking Thai officer said Hun Sen's forces -- which had
been unable to fulfill his orders to take O'Smach by Aug. 15 -
were reinforced with heavy weapons and as many as 500 troops in
recent days. They are believed to number between 3,000 and 7,000,
compared to about 2,000 for Ranariddh.

Analysts in Phnom Penh said the fall of the royalist
stronghold would not necessarily mean an end to the fighting in
Cambodia.

They pointed to Hun Sen's remarks earlier this week that he
would seize Anlong Veng from the Khmer Rouge next, and to
comments from government officials who said they were ready to
take on the Khmer Rouge.

"We will crack down on all anarchic forces," co-Defense
Minister Tea Banh said yesterday. "Anlong Veng is the next step."

Witnesses said O'Smach, a town in northwestern Cambodia close
to the Thai border, fell after six hours of intense, close-range
fighting. One witness said he heard tens of thousands of rounds
of gunfire and mortar shelling exchanged between the two sides.

Ranariddh's troops said earlier that their leader at O'Smach,
Gen. Nhiek Bun Chhay, was not with the last defending soldiers.

Some said he had crossed into Thailand Saturday for medical
treatment.

Fighting erupted in western Cambodia after Second Prime
Minister Hun Sen staged a bloody takeover against Ranariddh in
Phnom Penh on July 6. The two had headed an uneasy coalition
government that emerged from United Nations-sponsored elections
in 1993.

Hun Sen steadily gained the upper hand across Cambodia, and
cornered the last of Ranariddh's forces in O'Smach.

More than 21,000 Cambodians fled O'Smach through Chong Chom
Pass into Thailand last week as Hun Sen's soldiers closed in on
the town.