Nicaragua, Honduras in Border Fight : U.S. Pilots Ferry Troops to Airstrip Near Battle Zone

Honduras ordered troops to join an attack on Sandinista soldiers who had crossed the border along a sector of the frontier east of here, the government announced Sunday. Honduran jet fighter-bombers began hitting the Nicaraguan force Saturday, U.S. officials said.

The Sandinista forces had pushed northward across the border in pursuit of U.S.-backed contras, according to reports from the fighting zone.

In addition, U.S.-piloted helicopters, with the permission of President Reagan, were ferrying Honduran troop reinforcements to an airstrip about 25 miles from the battle zone at the request of the Honduran government, officials said.

Mountainous Jungles

Fighting was reported in the mountainous jungles of the frontier east and southeast of the town of Cifuentes in the area of the village of Las Trojes and the abandoned village of Las Vegas, a zone in which the contras have long maintained base camps.

Capt. Carlos Quezada Aguilar, a Honduran military spokesman, said the incursions were “of considerable proportions.” He called the incursions “an open provocation and a flagrant violation of our territory.”

Quezada said that Gen. Humberto Regalado Hernandez, the armed forces chief, “ordered the air force to attack groups of Sandinista troops that have entered our territory, and these actions will not cease until the invading forces abandon Honduran territory for good.”

Sketchy Battle Reports

Reports from the battle zone were sketchy. One report said that the Hondurans were fighting a force of up to 1,000 Sandinista troops and that 18 Honduran soldiers had been wounded in the early action.

The reports could not be independently confirmed because reporters were not being allowed into the frontier region.

Troops ferried by U.S. helicopters were being landed at Jamastran, west of Cifuentes and about 90 miles east of this capital city.

The U.S. role was confirmed by the State Department in Washington, which gave the following account of developments:

“During the past two weeks, there have been increasing Sandinista military attacks in Honduras, including harassment attacks against Honduran military outposts. The Sandinista attacks were accompanied by false claims of artillery fire from Honduras into Nicaragua and of U.S. military involvement in the fighting, indicating Sandinista propaganda preparations to explain increased military attacks against Honduras.

“On Thursday, Dec. 4, a reported 200 Sandinista troops attacked and overran a 16- to 20-man Honduran military outpost, approximately four miles inside Honduras, wounding three Honduran soldiers and capturing one. The Honduran government formally protested the attack on Friday. The protest was rejected by the Sandinistas. The Honduran armed forces verified on Saturday the presence in Honduras of a Sandinista force estimated to number over 1,000 troops and confirmed continuing Sandinista attacks against Honduran military outposts well within Honduras.

“Late in the afternoon (Saturday), the Honduran armed forces launched air strikes against Sandinista targets within Honduras. Shortly thereafter, the government of Honduras requested U.S. airlift assistance to help move Honduran troops to a military airfield in eastern Honduras, approximately 25 miles west of the conflict,” the statement said.

“Late Saturday night, the President, after consulting with his senior advisers, agreed to provide the requested airlift support, using U.S. military helicopters currently located at Honduras’ Palmerola air base near the city of Comayagua. The airlift began late Sunday and is expected to conclude on Monday.

“U.S. helicopters will not be armed and will not approach areas of possible hostile action. We will provide further details on the size and timing of the airlift when that information would no longer be of military value to the Sandinistas.”

For about five years, the area in which the reported action was taking place has been the site of base camps used by the contras as starting points for infiltration into Nicaragua.

The presence of the Nicaraguan rebels has created tension between this country and Nicaragua and has led to several other violent border incidents.

Sources here in the capital said that since July, the Sandinistas have had up to 1,000 troops operating almost permanently in the Las Vegas area. During recent weeks, an unspecified number of additional Nicaraguan troops were reported massing along the Honduran frontier.

There was no information on how many Honduran soldiers have now been moved into the border region to fight the Sandinistas. This country has maintained light detachments of troops near the so-called Las Vegas salient, an area resembling an inverted triangle with Las Vegas at the apex, and perhaps no more than 40 soldiers within the triangle itself in recent months, observers here said.

Honduras’ sudden decision to confront the Sandinistas follows several months when Honduras was willing to look the other way as Nicaraguan troops routinely patrolled the salient in efforts to cut off infiltration by contras into Nicaragua.

Even frequent reports of cross-border exchanges of gunfire between Honduran and Sandinista troops seemed unable to draw a belligerent response from Tegucigalpa.

However, several episodes during the past week apparently prompted the Honduran armed forces to take action.

On Friday, Nicaraguan troops attacked small Honduran outposts at the villages of Las Mieles and Boca del Espanol, wounding three Honduran soldiers and capturing two others, according to the Honduran Foreign Ministry. Nicaraguan helicopters also flew into Honduran territory to resupply Sandinista troops and carry out wounded.

In addition, Sandinista troops reportedly burned down at least two abandoned Honduran villages, Buena Vista and La Esperanza.

Reporters who visited the border town of Las Trojes on Saturday said that small groups of farmers were fleeing combat to the south and east. According to the refugees, the fighting was between the Sandinistas and the contras.

The Honduran request for U.S. air transport came late Saturday in a call to U.S. Ambassador Everett Briggs, U.S. officials here said.

The United States is supplying at least three Chinook helicopters and crews to carry Honduran troops into Jamastran, informed sources said. In all, the United States keeps five Chinooks in Honduras for use during frequent joint U.S.-Honduran military maneuvers.

The Honduran armed forces operate seven U.S.-supplied Bell 412 helicopters that can carry a dozen soldiers each, as well as a few UH-1 helicopters.

Sources here say that the Hondurans are using their fleet of half a dozen A-37 jet bombers against the Nicaraguans. The A-37 is designed to swoop down and deliver bombs of various sizes on massed ground troops.

Recently, Honduras has been pressing the United States to help it buy either U.S.-made F-5 jets warplanes or Israeli Kfir fighter-bombers to bolster its air force.

The decision to move Honduran troops to the border echoes a similar event in March. Then, a drive by up to 2,500 Sandinista troops against contras camps drew a hesitant response from Honduras.

Times staff writer Don Irwin, in Washington, contributed to this report.