Honduras Attacks Nicaragua Coast Guard Boats

Honduran warplanes strafed two Nicaraguan coast guard vessels about to intercept an intruding fishing boat off the Atlantic coast, sinking one and killing a crew member, the government said Friday.

It said four crewmen were wounded and one was missing.

Honduras said in its version of the incident, which occurred Thursday, that the Nicaraguan vessels were harassing the fishing boat and two Honduran warplanes drove them off. Nicaragua said three aircraft were involved.

The incident occurred in a remote jungle area off Cape Gracias a Dios, a peninsula that straddles the border.

In communiques issued by their foreign ministries, each country claimed to have acted in self-defense and accused the other of violating territorial waters. Each said it sent an “energetic” note of protest.

Relations Strained

Relations between Honduras and Nicaragua have been bad since the leftist Sandinistas seized power in Nicaragua in 1979 and anti-Sandinista rebels established bases in Honduras. There have been frequent incidents along the border and coastline.

Nicaragua called the air attack “a criminal action,” adding that it is alarmed by the border incidents because “they appear to be aimed at creating artificial conflicts with Nicaragua in order to favor support for Reagan in the Congress to continue his immoral and brutal war of aggression against Nicaragua.”

President Reagan has asked Congress to approve $14 million in U.S. aid to an estimated 12,000 to 14,000 Nicaraguan rebels based in Honduras.

Honduras accused Nicaragua of “yet another incursion into (its) territory” and of maintaining a “hostile attitude.”

The Nicaraguan communique said two coast guard vessels were patrolling, sighted a Honduran fishing boat poaching in Nicaraguan waters and were about to intercept it when “they were attacked by three combat planes from the Honduran air force.”

The Honduran communique said the fishing boat Tropik radioed from Honduran waters that it was being harassed by a Nicaraguan coast guard vessel, and two air force planes were sent, “repelling the attack” and “causing grave damage” to another Nicaraguan vessel that arrived on the scene.