Guatemala Guerrillas Attack Military Post

Leftist guerrillas attacked a military outpost in the northern Guatemalan highlands, wounding nine soldiers in fighting that the army said Tuesday could impede peace negotiations.

The army said troops withheld fire for fear of wounding villagers living around the outpost of Xalbal when it came under attack Monday.

The site is one of many small military outposts dotting the northern Ixcan jungle, where rebels are battling army troops in a sputtering civil war which has lasted 34 years.

At least 140,000 Guatemalans, mostly civilians, have been killed in the war, most at the height of scorched-earth army offensives in the early 1980s. Rebel and government negotiators have expressed hopes of ending the war through U.N.-mediated peace talks before September.