U.S. Deplores Nuns’ Deaths in Nicaragua : Reaction: White House says Managua regime has not backed up accusation of Contras.

The Bush Administration today deplored the killing of two nuns in Nicaragua but said the leftist government in Managua has failed to back up its charge that the attack was carried out by the U.S.-backed Contra rebels.

But the deputy police commander in the region of Nicaragua where the attack took place said the Contras were responsible for the killings.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said it is not known who carried out the ambush Monday night on a car carrying the Roman Catholic church workers on a highway in a remote northern section of the country.

Two nuns--one American, the other Nicaraguan--were killed, and a third was injured, as was an American-born Nicaraguan bishop. (Story, A1.)

‘We deplore in the strongest terms this outrageous attack on religious workers and extend our deepest sympathy to the families of the victims. This is a tragic incident, one that further underscores the need to bring peace, stability and democracy to Nicaragua,” Fitzwater told reporters.

” . . . We have no information on who was responsible for this attack and we note that the church officials themselves have no information, either,” Fitzwater continued.

“The Nicaraguan government has provided no information to substantiate its charge that the Contras launched the attack, and we hope the Sandinistas do not seek to obscure this tragedy by engaging in a propaganda battle.”

Fitzwater said that the Contras have condemned the attack and that its military commander said the attack occurred outside of the Contras’ usual operating area.

However, the regional deputy police commander, Julio Rugama, said about 60 Contra rebels operate in the region and were responsible for the attack.

The New York Times today quoted Lt. Col. Juan Lorenzo Santana as saying the church workers were apparently attacked because they came upon a group of Contras planting a mine in the road.

And Jaime Arauz, one of two peasants questioned by Sandinista officials, told reporters that he and the other peasant were kidnaped by a group of rebels who told them they were waiting to ambush an army convoy.

The government radio Voz de Nicaragua said the attackers were “Contra forces encouraged by the invasion of U.S. troops in Panama.”

The incident comes at a time of tense U.S.-Nicaraguan relations, which took a turn for the worse after the American invasion of Panama and U.S. soldiers’ illegal search of the Nicaraguan ambassador’s residence.

Contra military leader Enrique Bermudez said in Miami this morning that he doubts that Contras were responsible for the ambush.

“We have not received any report from patrols of that kind of action,” he said in a telephone interview. “These type of accusations are normally made by the Sandinistas in order to (wage a) publicity campaign against us.”