Tuesday, May 18, 1999 Published at 21:07 GMT 22:07 UK
World: Asia-Pacific
In pictures: Images of war
Years
of bitter revolutionary struggle culminating in the American secret war
between 1964 and 1973 have left Laos as the most bombed country in the
history of warfare.
| Laos was officially neutral but became a major battlezone throughout the Indochina wars |
| The Pathet Lao and their North Vietnamese allies used the Plain of jars as a key strategic staging area |
| American military planners were determined to stop the rise of communism in South-East Asia |
| Pilots returning from raids over Vietnam would often clear bomb bays over Laos to comply with orders to release all bombs |
| Cluster bombs scattered millions of lethal bomblets across the countryside |
| The whole of Laos became a free fire zone |
| Because the war in Laos did not officially exist anything could become a target |
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