BATTAMBANG - Khmer Rouge forces launched an artillery attack on Monday on a
government helicopter carrying Army Chief of Staff Gen Ke Kim Yan, who is
masterminding the Pailin offensive.
The guerrillas lobbed six 130 mm
rounds at the helicopter as it landed and took off at the frontline command
headquarters at Sala Krao, according to crew members.
The general,
accompanied by staff officers, was on a forward reconnaisance mission to the
base, 10 km north of Pailin.
The crewmen said KR artillery on a nearby
mountain fired two rounds as the chopper landed and two more as it was taking
off, carrying wounded soldiers to hospital for treatment.
The final two
rounds landed just 100 meters from the helicopter which later had to return to
Sala Krao to pick up Gen Yan and his aides and return them to
Batambang.
No one was hurt and the helicopter was not damaged during the
artillery attack.
In all the helicopter ferried out 26 wounded and three
dead soldiers from the frontline that day.
