Rebels Paralyze 2 Cities in East : El Salvador: Fierce fighting belies the contention that the guerrillas poured all their strength into the capital.

SAN MIGUEL, El Salvador —  A guerrilla offensive that has racked San Salvador for the past week also shut down two eastern provincial capitals with heavy urban fighting and a nationwide traffic ban.

Reporters who visited the cities of San Miguel and Usulutan--El Salvador’s breadbasket--found thousands of civilians abandoning their neighborhoods to ground combat and aerial strafing, as in the capital.

The army’s control of the cities appeared to be firm. However, the fighting in the east contradicts official assertions that the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front guerrillas poured all of their resources into the capital for their biggest offensive in 10 years of war.

The Pan-American Highway, the nation’s main east-west artery, is closed by fighting in San Salvador. The parallel Litoral Highway is nearly deserted and periodically cut by fighting in Usulutan. The rebels damaged one bridge and dug a trench across the road.

Stores and gas stations were closed in both Usulutan and San Miguel, and only a few stalls were open in open markets that normally bustle in the morning. Most people stuck close to their patios and doorways.

In San Miguel, 85 miles east of San Salvador, the 100-bed military hospital was full, with some of the wounded lying on mattresses on the floor. Doctors said they were sending the most seriously wounded to San Salvador.

“This is the worst. I’ve never fought like this before, in the city,” said Nelson Cornejo, 17, a government soldier wounded in the leg by shrapnel Thursday morning.

“We had a position yesterday that they took from us,” he said. “Today we took it back, but they had mined behind the barricades. They take positions in two-story houses, and it’s hard to get them out. They are on the first floor, with sharpshooters on the second. The neighborhood is full of them.”

Civilians and military sources interviewed Wednesday and Thursday said the rebels have dug in five neighborhoods along the northern rim of San Miguel--a strategy similar to the one that they employed in San Salvador.

The upscale Tropico Hotel--a stop for traveling salespeople and a party center for the provincial elite--was attacked five times and has been evacuated. It was occupied by soldiers.

The manager, Miguel Najarro, reluctantly housed four reporters who arrived at curfew Wednesday night.

“If they (the rebels) attack, get on the ground, and if they enter, don’t resist,” he warned. “I would appreciate it if you’d leave as early as possible tomorrow. I’m going to close.”

The offensive began Nov. 11 with attacks on the hotel, the 3rd Infantry Brigade headquarters about half a mile down the main street and other army positions. The rebels brought down at least one helicopter that night.

Col. Mauricio Vargas, commander of the brigade, said a rebel mortar destroyed the barracks of a U.S. military adviser stationed there but that the American major was unharmed. About 10 soldiers were wounded inside the compound, according to one soldier.

Vice President Francisco Merino and about 15 cadets were attending a gala at the Tropico to crown “Miss San Miguel” when the attack began. The army fended off the assault, and Merino was evacuated from San Miguel by helicopter the next day.

The rebels continued sporadic shooting and shelling at the brigade compound through Thursday. Several mortar rounds had fallen near the military hospital. Early in the morning, the compound was busy with troops preparing to move out aboard armored personnel carriers.

Vargas, looking tired on the sixth day of the offensive, wore a crucifix and a Virgin Mary medallion safety-pinned to his khaki T-shirt. He estimated that 600 to 1,400 rebels were fighting in San Miguel, and he thought they could continue for up to a week.

“The presence of the civilian population in the neighborhoods has complicated things for us. We have to be careful,” he said.

But he considered the offensive a failure for the rebels because most civilians had not taken up arms beside them.

“I know that San Salvador and San Miguel are shut down. But it is not because I, the civilian, support you, the rebels. It is because I can’t move, and the moment I can, I will,” he said.

He acknowledged, however, that the unexpected strength of the military offensive in the capital and in the east illustrates the military’s weakness in intelligence-gathering from the civilian population.

Although most civilians appear to be fence-sitting or fleeing the combat zones, the rebels could not have moved so many combatants, weapons and supplies into the cities without an elaborate network of clandestine support.

Like his colleagues in the capital, Vargas expressed concern that the guerrillas might have reinforcements to bring in for a second phase of the offensive.

Vargas said 37 soldiers were killed and more than 100 wounded in San Miguel. The rebels do not release their casualty figures.

In Usulutan, meanwhile, civilians said the rebels and government troops have been fighting almost continuously since Saturday night. Residents stand on balconies and at second-floor windows to watch the combat, until the shooting comes too near. Then, they quickly duck inside.

On Wednesday afternoon, the two sides battled across the stalls of a closed fruit market. Again Thursday, soldiers hunkered down in the cemetery and fired across the highway at rebels hiding among shacks and brush.

“It’s been like this since (last) Saturday night,” said Otilia Chica, 47, as reporters sought safety in her house. “It will calm down for a few minutes, and we go out to get water from the river. Then we come back, and it starts up again. This is the worst it’s ever been.”