Guerrillas Kill U.S. Adviser, 43 Salvador Troops

Leftist guerrillas launched a pre-dawn attack on a major Salvadoran army base Tuesday, killing at least 43 soldiers and a U.S. military adviser, who became the first to die in combat during the country’s seven-year civil war.

Salvadoran army officials said another 35 soldiers were wounded in the surprise assault on the army’s 4th Infantry Brigade, including the unit’s commander, Col. Gilberto Rubio, who was slightly injured in one hand.

Eight guerrillas of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front were killed in the attack, mounted on the garrison at El Paraiso in Chalatenango province, the military reported. The site is nearly 40 miles north of San Salvador, the capital, and the province is considered a rebel stronghold.

Casualty Figures Disputed

Salvadoran military officials on the scene, however, estimated that the casualty figures for government troops were much higher. A Western observer concurred.

“It was real big. They kicked them hard,” said the observer, who asked not to be identified.

A guerrilla communique claimed that the army suffered 600 dead and wounded in the assault, but military officials said that only 275 soldiers were at the base when the assault began. Hundreds of others normally based at the headquarters were on patrol.

According to the military, an undetermined number of guerrillas attacked behind a barrage of artillery and mortar fire at about 2 a.m., and some of them penetrated into the camp itself. The American adviser was killed by a mortar round, spokesmen said.

One of 55 Americans

U.S. Embassy and Pentagon officials confirmed the death of the adviser and identified him as Staff Sgt. Gregory A. Fronius, 27, of Greensburg, Pa. Embassy spokesman Pendleton Agnew said the American was one of 55 U.S. military trainers and advisers who are based at important military installations throughout El Salvador.

Col. Rubio said that two or three Americans are normally at El Paraiso but that only one spent the night there Monday.

Reporters who arrived on the scene early Tuesday said the base headquarters building was still smoldering and that several burned bodies were visible. The brigade’s command post, with radios and intelligence files, was destroyed. In dormitories, metal beds were turned into bent wreckage from the explosions. Military officials said that most of the soldiers died in bed.

The army chief of staff for El Salvador, Gen. Adolfo Blandon, visited the site.

Toll May Rise

“The object of the attack was the command post,” he said as he reviewed the aftermath of the three-hour attack. “Because of the seriousness of the injuries, the number of dead (soldiers) may increase.”

Rubio told reporters that the base was attacked from four sides and that as many as 35 guerrillas managed to make their way inside the headquarters. He said that in addition to the use of heavy artillery by the rebels, dozens of mortar shells fell on the base.

“This is a war,” Rubio said. “This happens in all wars. Just as we attack, sometimes we are attacked.”

Citing the military’s belief that the guerrillas have infiltrated the army, the colonel said it was clear that some of the attackers were operating inside the base. Some of the explosions that accompanied the attack, he said, could have been detonated only from inside the base.

He said the targeting of the command post was “too exact.”

About half an hour after the mortar fire began, Rubio said, a number of UH-1H armed helicopters flew in to help repel the attackers.

The mortar fire lasted about two hours, and the battle was over by 5 a.m., Rubio said.

Largest Attack Since June

The attack was the largest one since June, 1986, when guerrillas struck an army base at San Miguel, east of San Salvador. The military said 50 soldiers were killed or wounded there, but the rebels claimed a total of 250.

In December, 1983, much of the El Paraiso base was destroyed by a guerrilla raid in which the government acknowledged that more than 100 soldiers were killed. The guerrillas claimed that 300 soldiers were killed or wounded and 200 captured.

Rubio’s assistant, Col. Benjamin Canjura, said the headquarters had been heavily fortified since the 1983 attack. It was not clear how the guerrillas managed to avoid a mine field surrounding the base, which is also well-protected by lookout posts on surrounding hilltops.

“After that attack, all possible measures were taken to prevent another attack. But there’s nothing you can do against a mortar attack,” Canjura said.

The guerrillas issued a communique saying that the attack was the beginning of an offensive “for the conquest of peace, bread, justice and freedom.”

200 Attackers Estimated

The Western observer estimated that 200 to 300 guerrillas participated in the attack. He said he believes they belonged to a special forces unit of the Popular Liberation Forces, one of five groups in the Farabundo Marti Front and the one that most often operates in that area.

Sgt. Fronius was the first U.S. military adviser killed in combat in the Salvadoran guerrilla war. However, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Albert Schaufelberger, deputy commander of the American advisers in this country, was shot to death May 26, 1983, on a university campus in San Salvador.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said Fronius had a wife and child in Panama and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, based in Panama. He joined the Army in 1976, and had been in Central America two years.

American trainers are not supposed to participate in offensive military action or enter combat areas but may visit “carefully selected and secure sites” such as garrisons. They are armed and may fire back if fired upon.

Late Tuesday, a Pentagon official who asked not to be named told Associated Press: “According to the latest information, Sgt. Fronius, an intelligence specialist, was killed defending himself in the vicinity of the Regional Intelligence Center.” The source declined to elaborate.

The United States has a self-imposed ceiling of 55 on the number of advisers serving in El Salvador at one time.