The World : 4 Salvador Troops Accused

A federal judge in El Salvador issued arrest warrants for four soldiers implicated in the September massacre of 10 peasants, his assistant said. Judge Rafael Pena signed the warrants at the request of the attorney general’s office. The four soldiers of the Jiboa Battalion are alleged to have been involved in the Sept. 21 massacre in the town of San Francisco, about 35 miles east of San Salvador, the capital. The army first said the dead were guerrillas, but then changed its version to say eight civilians were killed in a guerrilla ambush and that army troops killed two of the ambushers. Residents, however, said up to eight soldiers used grenades and rifle fire to kill seven men and three women suspected of collaborating with leftist guerrillas. The slayings were the first massacre of such magnitude attributed to government forces since 1984.