WASHINGTON (AP) _Gun manufacturers should follow the example of Colt Industries Inc. and stop nonmilitary sales of semiautomatic assault rifles, the head of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration said Sunday.

“I thought that was a very courageous action on the part of Colt. Guns are dangerous, law enforcement is suffering because of these guns,” DEA administrator John Lawn said on the CBS-TV program, “Face the Nation.”

“I am asking them to (take this action), on behalf of the officers who are in danger every single day, because a police officer dies every 57 hours in this country,” said Lawn.

But Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and the new drug czar, William Bennett, said they did not think the government should call for private manufacturers to stop retail sales of semiautomatic weapons.

Bomber’s identity known

LONDON (AP)—A British weekly reported Sunday that the man who made the bomb that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 and plotted the attack is a Libyan known to international security officials as “The Professor” because of his experience with explosives.

The Sunday Express attributed its information to unidentified detectives. It did not identify the suspect by name.

The Express also said a Lebanese student, 21-year-old Khalid Jaafar, of Dearborn, Mich., unwittingly carried the bomb onto the flight in a radio-cassette player given to him as a gift, but it did not say who gave it to him.

Marine chopper crashes

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)—A U.S. Marine helicopter carrying 34 Marines crashed in an isolated mountain region on South Korea’s southeast coast early Monday and 21 were killed, U.S. authorities said.

Thirteen Marines were injured, some critically, U.S. authorities said. The most critical were evacuated to an amphibious assault ship off the Korean coast, the USS Belleau Wood, and the rest were flown to Seoul, authorities said.

Election opposition attacks

SAN SALVADOR (AP)—Salvadorans voted for a new president Sunday as leftist revolutionaries opposed to the election attacked military posts, and army troops countered with rockets and rifle fire.

At least five guerrillas and two soldiers were killed in fighting in nine provincial towns, according to military officials and witnesses. Two journalists and a Dutch television cameraman also were reported killed.

Soviet legislature votes

MOSCOW (AP)—President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and other members of the ruling Politburo failed to win unanimous support as Communist Party deputies in a new Soviet legislature, Pravda reported Sunday.

Providing unusual insight into divisions in the policy-making Central Committee, the Communist Party newspaper said of 641 Central Committee members and alternates who voted Thursday, 12 were opposed to Gorbachev.

Shuttle in good shape

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP)—Discovery returned from its five-day mission in what appeared to be the best condition of any space shuttle, with only minor damage to its protective tiles, NASA officials said Sunday.

A preliminary examination indicated only 10 thermal protection tiles will need to be replaced, in contrast to the last shuttle flight in December when nearly 200 tiles were severly damaged. In addition, the tires brakes and engines that troubled previous missions performed well.

UPS facility to provide jobs

CHICAGO (AP)—A new UPS sorting facility, to be built on the site of a suburban General Motors Corp. plant, will bring 4,000 jobs to the region, Gov. James R. Thompson and company officials announced Sunday.

United Parcel Service of America Inc. plans to raze the existing plant and construct a new facility at a projected cost of $150 million. It will be the world’s largest package sorting facility, and UPS‘ hub for ground package service, said Gary E. MacDougal, a UPS director and finance committee chairman.