Three dynamite bombs were thrown Friday at the home of El Salvador's vice president-elect, wounding a young friend of the family, and leftist rebels denied government claims they were responsible.
Vice President-elect Francisco Merino and his wife were not home at the time. The wounded girl was a friend of one of the four Merino children who were at home when three dynamite bombs were thrown at the house about 5:30 a.m.No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and in a message broacast on a local radio station, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front said it did not participate in it.
But the FMLN added that Merino "deserves this and much more."
"We are willing to continue acts of punishment against those who take part in the counterinsurgency project," the rebel statement said, referring to Merino's right-wing Republican Nationalist Alliance party, known by its Spanish acronym ARENA.
The girl was wounded by shrapnel in the attack that occurred while the four Merino children and three friends were home alone. Merino and his wife are in the United States.
Three bombs, containing over 2 pounds of dynamite each, were catapulted at Merino's house in the western part of San Salvador.
President-elect Alfredo Cristiani, who with Merino scored a large victory in March 19 elections, condemned the attack and blamed the FMLN for it.
"In our country ideas are no longer fought with ideas, but with bombs," he said. "This is not a war, this is pure barbarism and terrorism. There were only children in the house and they could have been killed."