The World - News from July 23, 1987

There are now more than 16,000 U.S.-supported contras fighting inside Nicaragua, an American military official said. At a State Department briefing, the official said that the contras have made great strides since they started receiving $100 million in U.S. aid in January. He portrayed the Marxist-led Sandinistas as hard-pressed to deal with the expanding contra force. He added that the U.S. government has confirmed that the contras have shot down six of Managua’s 60 Soviet-supplied combat helicopters since January, using U.S.-supplied, shoulder-held Redeye missiles.