Colombian rebels kill three police in rural ambush
BOGOTA, Colombia, May 25 (Reuters) - Marxist rebels shot and killed three police officers on Wednesday, four days before Colombian President Alvaro Uribe appears set to win re-election for helping reduce violence, authorities said.
The three officers died and four were wounded when members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, ambushed a police patrol guarding a rural highway in southern Narino department, police said.
Rebels also fired home-made mortars fashioned from gas cylinders at a police station in Meta district, but there were no injuries in the attack which slightly damaged the building.
Colombians go to the ballot box on Sunday and polls show that at least 57 percent of voters support re-electing Uribe, a conservative lawyer who has led a U.S.-backed crackdown on left-wing rebels and far-right paramilitaries who oppose them.
Analysts believe the 17,000-strong FARC -- the country's largest left-wing rebel group -- has backed off large scale attacks before elections to avoid bolstering support for Uribe's hard-line security policies.
Two guerrilla bomb attacks killed six Colombian soldiers over the weekend.
Colombia's four-decade conflict has killed and displaced thousands of people each year as rebels and militias fight for control of Colombia's huge cocaine trade. Washington brands both the FARC and the AUC paramilitary alliance terrorists.
After nearly four years under Uribe, many Colombians feel they can now venture onto highways where kidnappings were once common as crime rates in urban areas drop. But illegal armed groups still control large parts of rural areas.
The three officers died and four were wounded when members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, ambushed a police patrol guarding a rural highway in southern Narino department, police said.
Rebels also fired home-made mortars fashioned from gas cylinders at a police station in Meta district, but there were no injuries in the attack which slightly damaged the building.
Colombians go to the ballot box on Sunday and polls show that at least 57 percent of voters support re-electing Uribe, a conservative lawyer who has led a U.S.-backed crackdown on left-wing rebels and far-right paramilitaries who oppose them.
Analysts believe the 17,000-strong FARC -- the country's largest left-wing rebel group -- has backed off large scale attacks before elections to avoid bolstering support for Uribe's hard-line security policies.
Two guerrilla bomb attacks killed six Colombian soldiers over the weekend.
Colombia's four-decade conflict has killed and displaced thousands of people each year as rebels and militias fight for control of Colombia's huge cocaine trade. Washington brands both the FARC and the AUC paramilitary alliance terrorists.
After nearly four years under Uribe, many Colombians feel they can now venture onto highways where kidnappings were once common as crime rates in urban areas drop. But illegal armed groups still control large parts of rural areas.
posted by Marko at 5/25/2006 12:48:00 AM
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