4 Thais Killed in Border Clash with Vietnamese

BANGKOK, Thailand — Vietnamese troops crossed the border into Thailand and ambushed a company of border police Friday, killing four officers and wounding another in the first clash between the two sides since last spring, Thai officials said.

The company of five Thai police was patrolling a strategic point near the Thai-Cambodia border in Buriram province, 174 miles east of Bangkok, when a Vietnamese soldier hurled a grenade into the group and opened fire with rifles, a regional government official said.

The Vietnamese soldiers, who have occupied Cambodia since 1978, were more than 500 yards inside Thai territory when they staged the attack Friday, killing four of the Thai soldiers and wounding the fifth, the official said.