News In Brief

An FBI-trained unit ready for Salvadorean inquiry

The United States has trained a special Salvadorean security unit to investigate death-squad activities and political murders, El Salvador's provisional President, Alvaro Magana, said here Wednesday. Mr. Magana told the New York Times that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been training the unit for four months and it was now ready to begin operations. Magana hands over power Friday to Jose Napoleon Duarte, who has pledged to move against right-wing death squads.

The Times quoted a US embassy spokesman, Donald Hamilton, as saying the FBI had trained two officers and four enlisted men in the US in investigatory work. Mr. Hamilton added that the program was continuing and up to 20 Salvadorean soldiers or officials would eventually be trained by the FBI.