1,000 Sandinistas Troops Reportedly in Honduras

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras —  About 1,000 Nicaraguan soldiers chased hundreds of U.S.-backed contra rebels into southern Honduras and were inside the Honduran border Monday, military sources said.

The sources, speaking on condition they not be identified, said the Sandinista troops were on Mt. Capire, about 12 miles from the Nicaraguan border, after chasing the contras into Honduras on Sunday.

A government spokesman refused to confirm reports of an incursion, saying officials had no knowledge of Nicaraguan troops entering southern Honduras.

Major Effort

U.S. officials in Washington said earlier that Nicaragua sent an estimated 1,500 troops into Honduras in a major effort to crush the rebels operating from bases along the border. The U.S. officials, speaking on the condition that they not be identified, said the Nicaraguan troops were operating from 9 to 15 miles inside Honduras.

However, press secretary Lisandro Quesada said the Honduran government had no information about such an incursion and added, “The situation is being investigated by the armed forces.”

President Jose Azcona Hoyo convened an urgent meeting of the National Security Council, which includes Gen. Humberto Regalado Hernandez, chief of the armed forces, and ranking military and civilian officials.

A spokesman for the presidential palace said the government probably would release an official statement today.

Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez Contreras, when asked earlier about the Washington report, said, “We do not know anything official at this time.”

Rebels of the Nicaragua Democratic Force have a series of bases in mountainous southern Honduras and use them to launch attacks across the border into Nicaragua.

There was no immediate response from the left-wing Sandinista government to the Washington reports.

Report Published

The Nicaraguan army, in a report published Monday in the Sandinista newspaper, Barricada, said 115 rebels rebels were killed in northern Nicaragua in 45 battles that occurred between March 11 and March 17. It made no mention of any new army operations along the border with Honduras.

Barricada attributed its report to Assistant Cmdr. Julio Caesar Aviles, army chief of staff in the northern region. The story said several rebel leaders were killed, but no names were given and there was no report of army casualties.

It quoted Aviles as saying the rebel forces entered Nicaragua on March 11 from Honduras and were “well-equipped after several months of training.”