The Vietnamese army finally acknowledged the scale of its losses from its disastrous decade-long occupation of neighbouring Cambodia Thursday as it prepared to start bringing home its dead 12 years after its withdrawal.
Statistics compiled for four army search teams which will spearhead the repatriation operation showed a total of 10,000 soldiers dead or missing, a military source told AFP, confirming a report in one of Vietnam's three main official dailies, Hanoi Moi (New Hanoi).
The army has information about the likely whereabouts of just 6,000 of the fallen soldiers, the officer from the army's regional headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City said, adding it was the first time the figures had been released -- HANOI (AFP)
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