S. African TV cameraman killed in Salvadoran blast

Ian Mates, a South African television cameraman covering El Salvador's undeclared civil war, was killed early Tuesday, a day after his vehicle detonated a land mine.

Meanwhile, leftists battled to take over a major town east of the capital, but their call for a general strike appeared to go largely unheeded. Leftists have apparently failed in their effort to spark a general insurrection. But diplomatic sources said the government's claims of total victory were exaggerated.

In Guatemala, informed sources said the increasing number of battles between police and leftists there could be re lated to El Salvador's guerrilla offensive.