News In Brief

CIA said to supply aircraft used in Nicaragua raid

Two intelligence sources confirmed that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) supplied three light, rocket-firing planes and a helicopter used in a Sept. 1 attack by US-backed rebels against a Nicaraguan military school, the Associated Press reported. The Washington Post reported Saturday that the aircraft may have supplied by the CIA.

The intelligence sources, who, according to the AP, asked not to be named, said the US-built airfield at Aguacate, Honduras, was used to mount the attack.

Two Americans were killed in the raid. The US government has denied any connection with them.

In another development, congressional critics on Saturday questioned whether the planes were supplied at little or no cost to the rebels, known as contras, thus circumventing a $24 million cap imposed by Congress on CIA spending for the covert war.