Reward Posted for Killers of 6 in Salvador

The United States offered a $100,000 reward Friday for information leading to the “effective prosecution and punishment” of the killers of four U.S. Marines and two American civilians in El Salvador on June 19.

The action marks the first time the Reagan Administration has used the reward provisions of a 1984 anti-terrorist law that allows such bounties. The law, which also may be applied in the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 to Beirut, permits the secretary of state to pay up to $500,000 each to individuals furnishing information leading to the arrest or conviction of terrorists.

State Department spokesman Robert Smalley said he had no comment on official information linking the Sandinista government of Nicaragua to the slaying of the six Americans at a sidewalk cafe in San Salvador.

The United States, in a stern note to the Nicaraguans made public Thursday, advised the Sandinistas to use their influence with the Central American Revolutionary Workers Party to prevent a repetition of such terrorism. A group within that insurgent organization claimed responsibility for the attack.

U.S. Disclaims Pretext

But the note’s principal message--a threat of “serious consequences” for the Sandinistas if plans for terrorist attacks on U.S. personnel in Honduras are carried out--is “not a pretext for any direct military action,” Smalley said.

“We are doing this (warning Nicaragua) because we want to protect the lives of U.S. citizens,” he said.

Similarly, national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane told reporters at the White House that the United States will hold the Sandinistas accountable for attacks on Americans and will respond, but that it is not planning to invade Nicaragua, as the Sandinistas insist.

“I think the President believed that it was important that there be no illusions in Managua,” McFarlane said. He said the United States wants it known “that we are very aware of the support that they give to terrorist elements and insurgents, to include those in El Salvador, and that--knowing of their involvement and support--we will hold them accountable.”

A number of options against the Sandinistas are being considered, Smalley said, but “we’re not going to send them an engraved announcement” of the measures chosen.

Amount Deemed Adequate

The State Department spokesman said he could not explain why the amount of the reward was limited to $100,000 out of a total fund of $5 million. But an Administration official, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified by name, said the sum was deemed adequate for the Salvadoran case. Larger amounts, he said, may be needed to obtain the desired results in the hijacking case.

U.S. officials have said that the Salvadoran national police have identified the leader of the hit squad but refuse to divulge his name. Other members of the squad apparently have not been identified.

Smalley disclosed that the Administration had learned that the targets of planned attacks in Honduras would be official U.S. installations. Because the threat is not generalized, he said, no travel advisory would be issued to private U.S. citizens in Honduras or elsewhere in Central America.