Veteran intelligence commander Tran Quoc Huong passes away

Huong, commander of a strategic intelligence network in southern Vietnam in the Vietnam War (1954-1975), passed away at the Thong Nhat Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, said the Committee for the Protection and Healthcare of Central Officials. Details of his funeral and other relevant ceremonies would be announced later.

He is well-known as the master of Vietnam's most "legendary" intelligence officials during the war like Vu Ngoc Nha, Le Huu Thuy, Pham Ngoc Thao and Pham Xuan An. The war against the American invaders ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon regime.

Huong, whose real name is Tran Ngoc Ban ( also nicknamed Muoi Huong), was born in the northern province of Ha Nam. A participant in several democratic youth movements, he began his education at the Phu Ly Primary School before moving to Hanoi and joining a Christian school on Nha Chung Street. It is at this time that he changed his name to Huong and joined the Scout movement and the National Language Popularization Association.

In 1943, Huong joined the Communist Party of Indochina. He led a strategic intelligence network in southern Vietnam in the Vietnam War and made significant contribution to the national reunification.

After 1975, he occupied several important positions, including: deputy head of the Central Organizing Committee; HCMC's Deputy Party Secretary; Hanoi's Deputy Party Secretary; head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism; and head of the Party Central Committee for Internal Affairs.

He was also a member of the fourth, fifth and sixth Party Central Committee and Secretary to the 6th Party Central Committee.