Salvador War Intensifies as Rebels Kill 7

The civil war in El Salvador accelerated sharply this week, with widespread leftist guerrilla attacks resulting in the deaths of at least seven people in a two-day period and a rocket assault on an American government office. A guerrilla was also killed.

In addition, an elected mayor was kidnaped and killed in the northeast province of Morazan, dozens of electric power transmission facilities were destroyed and a San Salvador bordello was bombed, all the acknowledged work of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, an umbrella organization of five guerrilla organizations popularly referred to by its Spanish initials, FMLN.

Under pressure of a long-threatened, autumn guerrilla offensive, violence has reached its most intense level in the last two years and has filled this capital city with troops and other security forces in numbers not seen since the early days of the war, now nearly eight years old.

U.S. Office Attacked

The attack on the offices of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which directs a mammoth American aid program here, occurred late Thursday night. Police said a shoulder-fired rocket struck the fifth floor of the building that houses the agency.

The building, which is located in a commercial section of the city, was nearly empty, and there were no injuries. Although damage was said to be limited to shattered windows and some broken concrete, the sound of the blast was heard more than a mile away. Reporters were not allowed to inspect the damage.

It was the first known attack on the AID facility and the first in several months against any U.S. facility, although Radio Venceremos, the guerrillas’ clandestine radio, had warned recently that the war would be widened to target Americans “as a result of intensification of our actions.”

Six Soldiers Killed

Of the seven most recent fatal victims of the FMLN, six were soldiers killed while guarding buses and movie theaters in San Salvador. Another soldier was killed in San Vicente, a city about 35 miles east of the capital, during an attack on a military facility. A guerrilla was killed by security forces during a guerrilla raid on a city bus in Mejicanos, a working-class suburb of San Salvador.

All of these deaths occurred between Wednesday night and Friday morning.

Earlier in the week, the FMLN took responsibility for kidnaping and killing the mayor of Sociedad, a small town in the war-torn area of Morazan. It was the third slaying of a Morazan provincial mayor in recent months, all killed for allegedly collaborating with the government.

Adding to this pressure were dozens of rebel bombings that destroyed electric transmission lines and towers throughout the country. A large section of San Vicente province was without power for several hours on Thursday.

In Sal Salvador, the guerrillas claimed responsibility for a bombing that destroyed the garage of a popular bordello and damaged several nearby buildings. No one was reported hurt by the bomb.

It was the second such attack in two weeks. The Marxist-led FMLN says that bordellos are targeted because they are frequented by members of the military and are owned either by army officers or right-wing businessmen and represent the degradation of the ruling classes.

Even though some field commanders are reportedly pushing for an aggressive counter-strategy, including drastic measures to round up the guerrillas and their civilian support groups, the military command’s response--perhaps mindful of pressure from the U.S. Embassy, other governments and human rights groups--has so far been largely measured.

The army has taken over civilian buses in San Salvador, placing armed soldiers aboard as guards. It also put armed guards in front of popular movie theaters and other public facilities and sent convoys of troops through the city’s streets, giving the appearance, if not the reality, of a state of emergency.

These actions haven’t deterred the rebels. In some cases, they have provided new targets, and guerrillas have been able to obtain arms by stealing them from dead and wounded soldiers.

The guerrillas evidently have an acute need for arms. A Radio Venceremos broadcast Friday included a call for soldiers to sell their arms to the rebels. Declaring they would pay with American dollars or Salvadoran currency, the guerrillas said they particularly need M-16 assault rifles at $200 each and mortars at $300 each.