Mortar Attack Blacks Out Part of North Nicaragua; Contras Blamed
Rebels attacked the country’s most important hydroelectric plant with mortar fire, blacking out the northern provincial capital of Jinotega and surrounding towns for several hours, government radio said Friday.
The Central America plant, north of Jinotega, was damaged in the Thursday night attack, and an undetermined number of people were wounded, a Voice of Nicaragua broadcast said.
Sources in Jinotega, 100 miles north of Managua, said that the Contras also blew up electrical poles along the road between the city and the plant. A spokesman for the Nicaraguan Energy Institute said power was restored to the area at mid-morning Friday.
The U.S.-backed rebels and the Sandinista government signed a temporary cease-fire in March, 1988, but efforts to extend the accord into a permanent truce have not borne fruit. The government has extended the cease-fire unilaterally on a monthly basis, but sporadic attacks have continued.
Rebel responsibility was denied by Contra spokesman Bosco Matamoros in a telephone interview.
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