March 6, 1993

If he had not happened to be selling guns at a flea market in Austin on Sunday, Paul G. Fatta, a member of the Branch Davidian sect, said he might well have been behind a window at the sect's compound, exchanging gunfire with Federal agents who stormed the compound that morning in a mission that went awry and left four agents and at least three sect members dead. "If I were seeing my women and children being fired at, with bullets coming in, I would have either freaked out and hid under my bed or picked up my gun and fired on who was coming at us," Mr. Fatta said today.

In an effort to bolster President Boris N. Yeltsin's political position, the White House is considering offering him loan guarantees to house demobilized Russian troops and an enterprise fund to support emerging Russian capitalists, senior Administration officials said today. These ideas are being considered as part of what President Clinton said would be "some innovative solutions" for aiding Russia that he will propose to President Yeltsin when the two meet next month, officials said. Mr. Clinton announced today that the meeting would be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 3 and 4.

Surpassing all expectations, employers added 365,000 workers to their payrolls in February, the biggest jump in four years, as the unemployment rate edged down a tenth of a point to 7 percent, the Labor Department said today. The report, the first broad gauge of the economy's performance last month, ran counter to recent doubts about the vigor of the economic expansion, in which job growth has lagged behind improvement in other areas.

Investigators found hundreds of pounds of bomb-making chemicals yesterday in a locker at a drive-in self-storage warehouse in Jersey City, and Federal officials said that a rented yellow van used to carry the bomb into the World Trade Center had been seen by witnesses at the warehouse. The discovery of the chemicals appeared to supply a crucial piece of the complex puzzle that law-enforcement officials were trying to assemble to explain the bombing and the involvement of Mohammed A. Salameh, the 25-year-old illegal immigrant who was arrested on Thursday and charged with taking part in the explosion. Other bomb-making materials were found on Thursday in Mr. Salameh's apartment in Jersey City.

Rivals Meet in South Africa Twenty-six South African delegations discussed the resumption of talks that broke off because disagreement on how to write a constitution. Page 3. U.N. Tries to Reach Bosnians The general commanding the United Nations operation in Bosnia set out to reach besieged Muslim refugees and help evacuate them. Page 4. O'Rourke Wants to Stay Put Andrew P. O'Rourke, Westchester's County Executive, asked to bedropped from consideration for a Federal judgeship, saying he will seek re-election. Page 23. March Lion Run Amok Storms battered the New York region with snow, sleet and freezing rain. Two people were killed. Page 27. Less Than Welcome Many of the 1,000 Haitian refugees who fled violence and ended up in New York are finding the welcome wearing thin. Page 26.