Bitter fighting in Managua

Press, 15 June 1979, Page 5

Bitter fighting in Managua

NZPA-Reuter Managua Sandinist guerrillas and President Anastasio Somoza’s National Guard were yesterday locked in bitter house-to-house fighting in the slum areas of the Nicaraguan capital Managua. Residents said there were many dead. In the key city of Leon. 90 km north of Managua, the guerrillas used a repaired captured tank to spearhead an assault against National Guard soldiers holding out in a command post. The Sandinists, who have thrown all their resources into a final bid to topple President Somoza’s Government, are said to be in control of most of Leon. Local residents there said Government planes strafed and rocketed the area immediately around tile command post. Heavy fighting was also going on in the city of Esteli, to the north of the capital near the border with Honduras.

In the north-eastern part of Managua, Government planes bombed and strafed guerrilla positions. Residents said many people had been killed.

“It was horrible. They bombed the area for about five hours.” one eyewitness said.

Three days ago the Sandinist National Liberation Front called on all its men to head towards Managua for what it called “the final battle.”

Informed diplomatic sources in Managua said it seemed likely that the guerrillas’ main assault on the capital would come from the north. They said this view was backed’ up by the reports of heavy fighting in Leon and Esteli. President Somoza’s Gov. eminent says it has broken the back of the guerrilla drive in the southern areas near the Costa Rican border.

Fighting broke, out early yesterday barely one kilometre from the intercontinental hotel, which lies close to President Somoza’s fortified command bunker.

Guests, including foreign journalists and Nicaraguan Cabinet Ministers, watched from an upper terrace, listening to the constant stammer of automatic weapons and seeing the muzzle flashes from machine-guns as the two sides exchanged bursts of fire.

Guerrillas also control part of the area near the airport, where they were in a series of running battles with Government troops.