25 Salvadoran Casualties Reported in Day of Fighting

Twenty-five casualties were reported in fighting between guerrillas and troops in the last 24 hours, an army spokesman said Wednesday.

“We have 25 casualties, counting dead and wounded on both sides,” the spokesman said.

He said “intense confrontations” were reported by soldiers operating in the central province of San Salvador and the eastern provinces of Morazan and Usulutan.

In San Salvador, muffled explosions could be heard through the night as government troops bombarded Guazapa mountain, a rebel stronghold 15 miles north of the capital.

The army and air force have pounded the craggy peak with thousands of U.S.-made bombs and artillery rounds and launched massive ground attacks since the civil war began in 1980, but the rebels have held their ground.

The deaths in military clashes were reported a day after a military spokesman and witnesses said four unidentified men dressed in black robbed and killed 15 members of a family in their homes on the northeastern outskirts of San Salvador.

Forensics experts have begun investigating the crime in El Zapote, a peasant town of bamboo, mud and tin roofs.