 As the PAVN-VC area of control within Huế shrank, the pace of executions increased to prevent the "enemies of the people" being freed by ARVN or U.S. forces or identifying the VC who had revealed themselves.Mark Bowden suggests that PAVN-VC anger at the lack of enthusiasm among the population of Huế may have fuelled the purges, particularly as defeat loomed closer.Estimates of Vietnamese civilians killed by the PAVN-VC at Huế range from 2,800 (based on bodies exhumed from mass graves) to almost 6,000.