Attacks Signal End of Salvador Truce
Leftist rebels Wednesday burned buses and attacked a National Guard outpost, signaling the end of a 11-day unilateral Christmas truce.
A spokesman for the Salvadoran armed forces said rebels of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front attacked a National Guard outpost at Las Canas Bridge in Aiopawn, about eight miles north of the capital.
The spokesman said the rebels also renewed attacks on the transportation system, burning three buses in different neighborhoods of San Salvador.
Meanwhile, an armed forces report released Wednesday said that more than 6,500 combatants were killed or wounded in fighting between Salvadoran government troops and leftist insurgents in 1989.
The report said 1,079 armed forces troops were killed over the year and 1,908 wounded. It added that the rebels had suffered 3,697 casualties, including dead and injured.
Col. Rene Emilio Ponce, head of the joint chiefs of staff of the armed forces, told a local television network that the bulk of the casualties were victims of a fierce rebel offensive launched Nov. 11. Both sides reported more than 2,000 fighters dead in the six-week attack.
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