World Notes El Salvador

The military training center in La Union is basically a boot camp. Every 15 weeks about 250 recruits are transformed into troops, which President Jose ( Napoleon Duarte's government needs in its struggle against leftist guerrillas. Last week the trainees received a lesson in warfare when some 350 rebels, armed with mortars and rockets, staged an early-morning attack on the base. The young soldiers fought off the insurgents, but the two-hour battle exacted a bloody price: 42 of the trainees were killed and 62 were wounded. There were ten known rebel casualties.

The guerrillas later announced that their objective was to capture or kill the twelve American military advisers attached to the base. Only five were at La Union at the time, and none was injured. The guerrillas have killed five American soldiers in the past two years. In recent months the rebels have abandoned direct assaults in favor of terrorist acts, like the kidnaping last month of President Duarte's daughter. At week's end negotiations had still not been able to win her release.