Laotian allies still hiding in jungles

VIENTIANE, Laos, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The warriors fought with the United States but decades after the end of the Indo-China war, they are still hiding in Laotian jungles afraid to come out.

Calling themselves America's forgotten soldiers, these warriors numbering in the thousands have little to live on in their hiding places, reports The New York Times. The Laotian Communist government reportedly still pursues these soldiers, but the government denies such charges.

"They will never forgive me. I cannot live outside the jungle because I am a former American soldier," Xang Yang, 58, living in a small hillside clearing east of the Mekong River, told the Times.

He and others like him were hired by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in a covert operation to fight the Communists in the Vietnam War, the report said. The operation, dating back to 1961, was secret because U.S. military involvement in Laos was covert.

Yang and four other veterans along with their wives and 50 children and grandchildren live in an encampment which is a 15-hour walk through low-lying mountains from the nearest paved road, the report said.

The Times report said the plight of these Hmong veterans has begun to receive more attention through human rights groups, who have condemned the Laotian government.