Forces loyal to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega staged an organised attack on an opposition stronghold as international calls mounted for an end to months of deadly violence in the Central American country.
The offensive on the city of Masaya came on the heels of a bloody siege of student protesters holed up in a church in the capital Managua on the weekend, suggesting Ortega was intensifying the use of lethal force to quell dissent. His government says it is carrying out a "liberation" of towns and cities where protesters have been active.
Police and masked paramilitary units toting assault rifles yesterday sealed off all roads leading to Masaya's flashpoint neighborhood of Monimbo, from which gunfire could be heard. Videos posted on social media showed rebels inside Monimbo firing back, some with homemade mortars.
The head of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, Vilma Nunez, said at least two people were killed -- an adult woman and a police officer. State media confirmed the death of the policeman but gave no other toll from the assault.
A group of journalists, including AFP, which tried to enter Monimbo to verify the situation were shot at by pro-government gunmen to prevent them approaching.
More than 1,000 men firing automatic weapons entered the city of 100,000 people early Tuesday, residents said.
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"They're attacking us from various entry points in Monimbo," Cristian Fajardo, a leader of a student protest movement, said in a WhatsApp message.
"They're attacking Monimbo! The bullets are reaching the Maria Magdalena parish church, where the priest is sheltered," archbishop Silvio Baez wrote on Twitter.
"May Daniel Ortega stop the massacre! People of Monimbo I beg you, save yourselves!" The US warned Ortega against pursuing the assault on Masaya. It called for a halt to the deadly crackdown on anti-government protests that has left some 280 people dead over the past three months.
"We strongly urge President Ortega not to attack Masaya," tweeted Francisco Palmieri, the US principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Western hemisphere affairs.
"Continued gov't-instigated violence and bloodshed in #Nicaragua must end immediately. The world is watching." - 'Terror message' -
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