Murder, kidnapping, torture and intimidation were a routine part of Viet Cong (VC) and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) operations during the Vietnam War. They were intended to cow the populace, liquidate opponents, erode the morale of South Vietnamese government employees, and boost tax collection and propaganda efforts. Estimates of the total number of South Vietnamese civilians killed by the VC/PAVN between 1954 and 1975 range from 106,000 to 227,000. Overview Murder, kidnapping, torture and intimidation were a routine part of Viet Cong (VC) and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) operations during the Vietnam War. They were intended to cow the populace, liquidate opponents, erode the morale of South Vietnamese government employees, and boost tax collection and propaganda efforts. Terror was meant to demonstrate that the South Vietnamese government could not protect them. The VC attacked villages and hamlets with the intention of killing men, women and children to sow panic and insecurity. During the early years of the war, assassinations and similar activity was organized via "special activity cells" of the VC. As the conflict continued, efforts were centralized under the VC Security Service, estimated to number 25,000 men by 1970. As well as targeted murders and kidnappings the VC and the PAVN frequently mortared refugee camps and placed mines on highways frequented by villagers. Some mines were set to explode only on the passage of a heavy vehicle, in order to target civilian buses. Another terror method involved the random shelling of major cities with 122-mm rockets. This extensive use of terror received comparatively little attention from Western journalists, who were preoccupied with covering the conventional warfare aspect of the conflict. Notable VC/PAVN incidents of terror include the Đắk Sơn massacre, Massacre at Huế, Son Tra massacre and the Thanh My massacre. Similar results could be achieved by provoking hasty reaction or retaliation attacks by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) or American forces on villagers through sniping, raids, or placing mines and booby traps in and near villages. Such reactions sometimes sparked atrocities that could be used in VC propaganda to help mobilize or radicalize elements of the populace. A 1965 Christian Science Monitor article by Japanese journalist Takashi Oka reported on what seemed to be the use of the method. The VC entered a village and harangued the local populace about supporting the Revolution, before digging in and passing word to the district capital