The World - News from March 21, 1985

Salvadoran military officials said that 5,000 troops launched a sweep through Usulutan province in the eastern section of the country to prevent leftist rebels from carrying out a threat to disrupt highway traffic. The rebels, fighting since 1979 to topple the U.S.-backed government, had said that their highway campaign would begin on Wednesday. The sweep in Usulutan province came as about 5,000 other Salvadoran troops, responding to a series of guerrilla raids last weekend, moved against insurgent strongholds in La Union, Morazan, San Miguel and Chalatenango provinces.