WORLD : Injured MPs Were Out on Their Own

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Seven American military policemen wounded in a bomb attack while walking in the port city of La Ceiba had left their quarters without permission, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said today.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Charles Barclay said the soldiers were supposed to spend the night at facilities under U.S.-Honduran military control outside La Ceiba. Instead, they went out on the town. “My understanding is that they did not have authorization to go out after dark,” Barclay said.

Barclay said he had been unable to determine from military officials if the men were officially absent without leave. “I don’t think they were AWOL,” Barclay said.

In Washington, the Defense Department said today one of the men was in critical but stable condition and three, including Staff Sgt. Robert Nelson, 27, of Ontario, Calif., were in serious condition after being flown to Brooke Army hospital in San Antonio, Tex.