World Notes NORTH AFRICA

They were on a mission of mercy, but that didn't stop the missiles. Two DC-7s chartered by the U.S. Agency for International Development were flying over a desolate no-man's-land in Mauritania near the Moroccan border when they came under fire. The planes were ferrying insecticide to Morocco to combat the plague of locusts that has ravaged the continent this year.

"All of a sudden, the first airplane was hit," said Sergio Tomassoni, 64, who was riding in the DC-7 trailing behind. "We saw the smoke and a big ball of fire." The aircraft, shorn of its right wing, smashed to the ground, presumably killing all five crew members. A second missile struck Tomassoni's plane, but it limped 250 miles to a safe landing in Morocco.

The AID planes evidently got caught in crossfire between Morocco and | Polisario guerrillas, who have been battling for 13 years for ownership of the territory known as the Western Sahara. It seems likely that Polisario gunners fired at the planes, mistaking them for Moroccan aircraft.