Eight police killed, 30 captured by Colombian rebels

Eight police officers were killed and 30 taken hostage by Colombia's biggest rebel group in a remote jungle town, police said on Sunday.

At dawn on Saturday, hundreds of rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, launched an assault on the rainforest town of San Marino in Choco province near the Panama boarder, dealing one of the heaviest blows to government security forces in recent years.

The rebels first struck the town with home-made mortar bombs, then traded gun fire with police. Eight officers were killed in the fierce conflict, which also left nine police and four civilians wounded.

Police believed 30 missing police officers were now being detained in the jungle by rebels.

After the battle, President Alvaro Uribe dispatched further troops to the town, but not in time to catch the rebels before they withdrew.

FARC, founded in the 1960s, has a 17,000-strong force and occupies 40 percent of Colombia. It has been fighting the government army since a negotiation for peace broke down in February, 2002.

After military offensives launched by Uribe, FARC stepped up attacks in February after a period of relative inactivity.

Source: Xinhua