News In Brief

Salvador arrest in killings has US less than satisfied

A US official said Tuesday that the arrest of a captain in the killing of two Americans was encouraging but that it did not come close to fulfilling the Reagan administration's human rights demands.

Capt. Eduardo Ernesto Alfonso Avila, arrested Monday, is a suspect in the 1981 murders of two AFL-CIO land reform experts and a Salvadorean agrarian reform official.

Political sources said that Vice-President George Bush gave a letter to officials Dec. 11 stating that Washington would ask Congress for an aid increase only if the government stopped the death squads. The letter said the Salvadorean government must respond by Jan. 10.