Ba Chúc massacre
| Ba Chúc massacre | |
|---|---|
Ba Chúc Tomb | |
| Location | Ba Chúc, An Giang, Vietnam |
| Date | April 18–30, 1978 |
| Target | Vietnamese civilians |
Attack type | Massacre, war crime, ethnic cleansing |
| Deaths | 3,157 civilians |
| Perpetrators | Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea (Khmer Rouge) |
| Motive | Anti-Vietnamese sentiment, Khmer nationalism |
The Ba Chúc massacre (Vietnamese: Thảm sát Ba Chúc) was the mass killing of 3,157 civilians in Ba Chúc, An Giang Province, Vietnam, by the Kampuchea Revolutionary Army (Khmer Rouge) from April 18 to 30, 1978. It was a spillover of the Cambodian genocide which also targeted Vietnamese people mainly in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge took the local villagers to temples and schools to torture and kill them. The residents who fled to the mountains in the following days were also brutally slaughtered. Almost all the victims were shot, stabbed or beheaded.
The event is considered to be the catalyst for the Vietnamese decision to retaliate against Cambodia later that year, which would result in the overthrow of both the Khmer Rouge and its leader Pol Pot.