Fidel Castro himself led the counter-attack against the Bay of Pigs landings

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Reports from Cuba say the island has been invaded by counter-revolutionary forces trying tooverthrowthe country's leader, Fidel Castro.

The only news coming out of Cuba is broadcast by the government-run radio station. All other communications with the island have been cut.

THe first landing is reported to have taken place in the early hours of this morning.

Broadcasts from Cuban government radio appealing for medical help indicate that the raiders have successfully penetrated 25 miles (40km) inland.

They appear to have come ashore on an area of the coast known as the Bah de Cochinos, or Bay of Pigs, south-east of the capital, Havana.

There is no indication as to the size of the invasion force, but Dr Castro, in a speech on Cuban government radio, said they are supported by aircraft and warships.

"The glorious soldiers of the revolutionary army and the national militia are battling the enemy at all the points where they have landed," he said.

High alert

The Cuban military have been on high alert for an imminent invasion for some days.

In a speech yesterday, Fidel Castro told the Cuban people he intended to resist such an attack with "an iron hand".

Cuban exiles based in the United States, who are organising the attempt to overthrow the Castro regime, say thousands of Cubans have joined the rebel forces.

However, there is no independent confirmation of the level of support for the invasion from within Cuba.

The leader of the Cuban exile movement in the US, Dr Miro Cardona, said the battle had begun "to liberate our homeland from the despotic rule of Fidel Castro".

Dr Cardona played a part in Fidel Castro's revolution against the dictatorship of President Batista in 1959, and was prime minister for 45 days before Dr Castro himself took over.

US denial

In a statement in Washington, the US Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, has again denied US involvement in the invasion of Cuba.

He said the United States had not, and would not intervene in Cuba, with armed forces or otherwise.

Strong suspicions that the United States is sponsoring an offensive against the Castro government have been fuelled by the bombing of three of Cuba's military air bases two days ago.

The US denied all knowledge of the episode, saying Cuban Air Force pilots defecting to Florida were responsible.

But reporters who watched one of the planes land in Miami after carrying out the attack described features which indicated it was American-made.

The search goes on for the survivors of the Affray

The Affray left Portsmouth last night and submerged about 30 miles south of the Isle of Wight at 2115 BST (2015GMT).

She was due toresurfacetoday at 0830 BST (0730GMT) off Start Point but no surfacing signal was received and her current position is not known.

The code word "subsmash" was sent out to set in place a search and rescue operation.

Search for survivors

Twenty-six ships and submarines from four countries - Britain, France, Belgium and the US - are involved and every available aircraft has joined the search.

All vessels have been asked to look out for survivors, wreckage or oil spills on the surface of the water.

As well as its normal crew of 61, on board, there were two classes of submarine officers under training and a small party of Royal Marines.

According to the Admiralty, they were on a practice war patrol between Portsmouth and Falmouth.

Chance of survival

A senior submarine officer said the crew could survive for up to three days in such a large submarine if they used special oxygen candles stored on board.

The Affray is an A-class submarine designed for service in the Pacific. She was built in 1946 by Cammell Laird and belongs to the 5th Submarine Flotilla.

In January last year, HM Submarine Truculent sank in the Thames Estuary after colliding with another vessel leading to the death of 64 seamen.

overthrow: to throw over;to bring about downfall or destruction（推翻，颠覆）

resurface: to come to the surface again, reappear（重新出现，重新浮现）