US finds photographs of Vietnam casualties

WASHINGTON (AP) - US officials discovered a secret cache of Vietnamese-made photographs reported to contain more than 4,000 pictures of the remains of Americans who died in military action or captivity during the Vietnam war, the Washington Post said yesterday.

The archive 'was discovered by means that officials refused to disclose,' the newspaper said in a report attributed to unidentified official sources. Some Americans pictured are still listed as missing in action because Vietnam has never acknowledged having any information about them or having their remains, the report said.

The official Vietnamese News Agency said on Monday that Vietnam would expand its help in determining the fate of missing Americans by letting US experts study military archives. The Pentagon's task force searching for missing servicemen had previously said the lack of access to the archives was seriously hindering its work. The US group conducts searches and excavations with the Vietnamese, looking for the remains of missing Americans.