BOGOTA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Four Colombian police were killed on Saturday in a rebel bomb attack aimed at the mayor of a town bordering Venezuela, the first political assassination attempt by leftist guerrillas this year.
Mayor Jose Vargas of the town of Arauquita was unhurt when police said one of the rebel armies operating in the area detonated land mines aimed at his motorcade. Four police officers in the motorcade were killed and three were injured.
One guerrilla was killed in a gun battle with police after the explosions.
Authorities say rebels fighting since the 1960s for socialist revolution assassinated 12 candidates running in last year's provincial and municipal elections. Thousands are killed in Colombia's guerrilla war every year.
Colombia's two main rebel groups -- Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National Liberation Army, or ELN -- are battling each other and the state for control of Arauquita in Arauca province. Hundreds of people have been displaced by violence in the province this month.
The ELN is in preliminary peace negotiations with the government while the bigger and stronger FARC says it wants no part of talks with President Alvaro Uribe, who is popular for his U.S.-backed crackdown on the drug-running guerrillas. (Reporting by Hugh Bronstein, editing by Vicki Allen)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment