Khmer Rouge guerrillas attacking a State of Cambodia (SOC) - held village in Kompong
Speu on Apr. 13 fired a a rocket propelled grenade at a U.N. armored personnel carrier,
killing one Bulgarian soldier and wounding five others, U.N. spokesman Eric Falt
said.
The Bulgarians were responding to a distress call from UNTAC officials caught in
fighting after a large group of Khmer Rouge guerrillas attacked the village of New
Oral at 2.30 in the morning.
Falt said Private Vencislav Angelov Mirchev, 24, was killed instantly by the anti-tank
grenade which struck the APC as it arrived in New Oral. He said it did not appear
that UNTAC was the target of the attack.
"According to the first information we received, the attack was directed against
the State of Cambodia position located there," Falt said. The SOC troops recaptured
the village after a two-hour battle. An Indonesian police monitor and his Cambodian
interpreter manning the UNTAC district headquarters at the time of the attack were
slightly injured.
Falt said none of the villagers were killed or injured, but that seven houses including
a school, medical facilities and CPP office were set on fire by the guerillas.
The injured Bulgarian soldiers were in good condition.
Mirchev was the fourth Bulgarian peacekeeper to be killed in hostile action during
the last month. The Khmer Rouge have been blamed for the attacks, all of which have
taken place in Kompong Speu.
"This is a very heavy toll for Bulgaria in particular and UNTAC in general,
who has suffered the loss of eight people in violent attacks the past month,"
Falt added.
