Salvador Rebels Hit Capital Bases : Central America: The guerrillas also struck the home of President Alfredo Cristiani. However, it is not known if he was in the residence.

In the heaviest urban fighting in eight months, leftist guerrillas launched simultaneous attacks on a dozen military positions throughout the capital Saturday night.

Radio reports said rebels of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front attacked the residences of U.S.-backed President Alfredo Cristiani and Ricardo Alvarenga, president of the right-wing National Assembly. It is not known if they were home at the time.

Civilian sources said the attack on Alvarenga’s home left at least one guerrilla dead and at least two security guards wounded, the Associated Press reported.

An employee of the armed forces press office, speaking by telephone on condition of anonymity, reported “attacks everywhere,” but could not confirm their exact locations, the AP said.

Earlier Saturday, the rebels began their offensive with a mortar attack on the National Guard headquarters, wounding at least three guardsmen inside the compound and killing two children nearby, military sources said.

Machine gun and mortar fire could be heard throughout well into the night. Air force C-47 gunships and helicopters circled San Salvador firing tracers and flares.

The last coordinated rebel attacks in the capital were during the March presidential election, which Cristiani won by a landslide.

One of the targets during Saturday’s nighttime fighting was the National Police training academy. There were also reports of fighting in eastern El Salvador in the city of San Miguel and nearby towns.

Five wounded civilians were taken to a public hospital. A military source said that seven guardsmen had also been wounded, but officials said they suffered only three casualties.

The assault in eastern San Salvador was similar to a rebel attack on the Defense Ministry two weeks ago, in which one civilian died. In both cases, half of the rebels’ homemade artillery failed to fire or the shells missed their mark.

Leftist rebels have stepped up their attacks in the capital during the last year to display their military force while attempting to negotiate an end to the 10-year civil war with the U.S.-backed government.

The day after the Defense Ministry attack, however, a powerful bomb destroyed the headquarters of the leftist Salvadoran National Workers Federation, killing 10 civilians and wounding 29. No one has taken responsibility for the bombing, but rightist extremists are believed responsible.

The rebels blamed the military and suspended a third round of peace talks with the Cristiani government that had been scheduled for this month.

In both the Defense Ministry and National Guard attacks, the rebels used homemade mortars mounted on trucks.

Col. Juan Carlos Carrillo Schlencker, commander of the National Guard, said the mortars in Saturday’s attack were hidden beneath sacks of beans and grain on a truck parked about 200 feet from the guard compound. He said they were ignited either by fuse or timer but that six of the 12 mortars did not fire.

One shell fell on a barracks inside the headquarters, four dropped in a ravine nearby and one landed about 300 feet to the east in the narrow passageway of a poor neighborhood. It destroyed two clapboard houses and killed two boys, ages 1 1/2 and 4, who were playing outside.

“This is one more demonstration of the rebels’ inefficiency. They are almost inept. They can’t even aim straight,” Carrillo said.

Such urban attacks appear to carry a heavy political cost for the guerrillas, particularly in places such as the neighborhood where the children died. Crowds watched as the boys’ mothers grew hysterical over the children’s bodies.

But the attacks also seem to have a tremendous psychological impact among the military. Officials have said the weapons are “ingenious.” They say that the operations have a potential for considerable damage and require only one or two rebels.

The guerrillas had attacked the National Guard compound twice before, including a daytime raid in October, 1988, that left four dead and 31 wounded and destroyed much of the installation.