The World - News from Dec. 16, 1987

Leftist rebels launched another attack on El Salvador’s vital coffee crop, triggering a two-hour gun battle that left 20 people dead, the army said. It was the second coffee plantation destroyed in 24 hours. A military statement said the rebels attacked the Trinidad coffee plantation, guarded by civil defense forces and situated 70 miles east of San Salvador near the town of Jucuapa. The statement said that four civil defense members and six civilians were killed by the rebels. Troops sent to the area killed 10 rebels in an ensuing skirmish, the statement said. Seven soldiers were wounded.