U.S. Planes Mistakenly Sink Small Boats

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30959, 15 January 1966, Page 13

U.S. Planes Mistakenly Sink Small Boats

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright) SAIGON, January 14. United States Marine jets mistakenly hit four small boats filled with civilians and Government militiamen yesterday and killed or wounded 25 people, a Marine spokesman announced today, the Associated Press reported.

Four South Vietnamese civilians were killed and 16 wounded. Five militiamen were also wounded, the spokesman said. Jet aircraft sank all the boats. Later the South Vietnamese military headquarters at Da Nang reported that the sampans were carrying local militiamen on a Government operation, Five militiamen were wounded. The four civilians killed and 16 wounded were all standing on the banks of the river when the aircraft attacked.

The American jet aircraft were ordered to bomb and strafe the boat by a forward air controller who believed the vessels to be carrying armed Viet Cong near a marine operation 20 miles southwest of the northern airbase of Da Nang. Under Investigtaion

The Marine spokesman said the sinking was under investigation and declined to give the nationality or service of the forward air controller. An unknown number of Viet Cong ambushed a jeep six miles south of Da Nang last night and inflicted several casualties on United States and Australian advisers, a military source reported. The advisers were on their way to a pacification headquarters at Mue Bong.

The ambush took place on Highway 1, the main northsouth highway in South Vietnam.

A platoon of U.S. Marines on a patrol nearby heard the firing and went to the scene, bu' the Viet Cong had already left.

The Viet Cong ambushed a South Vietnamese battalion yesterday north-west of Saigo- within artillery range of

a big U.S.-Australian operation and inflicted considerable losses. U.S. advisers accompanying the Vietnamese troops were reported to have suffered heavily. In other fighting, Vietnamese forces reported that they killed 40 Viet Cong who attacked an outpost today eight miles south-west of Quang Ngai city, 330 miles north-east of Saigon.

Australian troops were lifted by helicopter out of the Ho Bo woods, 25 miles northwest of Saigon, this morning at the end of their most vicious and bloody clash with the Viet Cong to date. Australian casualties in the operation were eight dead and 30 wounded—the heaviest so far in the Vietnam war for the Australians. The Australians uncovered a giant underground fortress

—the major Viet Cong training and supply base in the area. Hundreds of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition, medical supplies, documents and food were discovered by the Australians in the complex. As infantrymen discovered new tunnel systems engineers and demolition teams followed in their wake destroying them.