Nov. 2, 1963 - While the Saigon radio had announced yesterday that President Ngo Dinh Diem and his powerful brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, had committed suicide after a military coup d’état in South Vietnam, reliable military sources now say they were assassinated. With Saigon now under military rule, crowds of jubilant youths set fire to the homes of Government security officials, offices of Government-controlled newspapers, and police stations. The sources who reported that the brothers had been killed said they had escaped from the palace by a tunnel shortly before marines overran it. Later, Ngo Dinh Diem was seen in a small Catholic church in Cholon, a suburb of Saigon. The military leaders sent troops and armored cars, and both men were taken prisoner. They were placed inside an armored personnel carrier and were guarded by several soldiers. On the way to military headquarters, an order was given to kill both. When the armored car arrived at headquarters, both men had been shot dead. Other reports said Ngo Dinh Nhu had been stabbed repeatedly. The initial reports that the President and his brother had committed suicide were received skeptically in some quarters since both were Roman Catholic. The President was considered particularly devout. The three sons of Ngo Dinh Nhu were reliably reported to have been taken to Dalat, north of Saigon. They were said to be in the care of a Roman Catholic priest. One junior officer in the South Vietnamese Army had a warning for their mother, Madame Nhu, who is now in the United States. “She will not be safe if she comes here,” he said.
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