The
insurgency in Laos refers to the ongoing, albeit sporadic, military conflict of the
Third Indochina War between the
Lao People's Army, and
Vietnam People's Army opposed primarily by members of the former "
Secret Army" or the
Hmong people as well as various other ethnic lowland Lao insurgencies in
Laos, who have faced governmental reprisals due to Royal Lao and Hmong support for the
American-led, anti-communist campaigns in Laos during the
Laotian Civil War—which is an extension to the war itself. These were part of the American war waged against the anti-monarchist and anti-imperialist
Pathet Lao of Laos and against the Vietnamese who opposed the U.S. imposed dictatorships in
South Vietnam. It continued on the day after the end of the civil war with the
Pathet Lao's capture of the Laotian capital
Vientiane, who overthrew the Royal
Kingdom of Laos and established a new government known as the Lao People's Democratic Republic.