The World : Sandinistas Down Plane

Nicaragua said its forces shot down an unidentified plane that flew into its airspace, and U.S.-backed contras acknowledged that one of their planes crashed in Honduras near the Nicaraguan border. Sandinista officials in Managua said the plane attacked army positions in northern Nueva Segovia province and was shot down by surface-to-air missiles, crashing in Honduras. However, a contra leader said in Tegucigalpa that the plane was unarmed. He said its pilot and co-pilot were rescued by the Honduras-based rebels. He declined to say what the plane was doing over Nicaragua, but sources close to the rebels said it was dropping propaganda leaflets.