Leftist Rebels Kill 18 In Colombia
Ankit Gupta - All Headline News Staff Writer Bogota, Colombia (AHN) - Suspected rebels ambushed an army patrol, exploded a car bomb in the capital and another bomb in Colombia's southwest, killing at least 18 people in a wave of attacks a week before the presidential inauguration. In one of the bloodiest attacks in recent years, leftist rebels ambushed and nearly wiped out an army patrol in the province of Norte de Santander, close to the border with Venezuela. The patrol was on its way to investigate reports of an illegal highway checkpoint when the guerrillas struck, killing 15 of the 18 soldiers in the unit, said Gen. Carlos Ospina of the armed forces. Rebels from all of Colombia's main illegal groups operate in the zone, about 285 miles northeast of Bogota. The ambush coincided with a car bombing in the capital, Bogota. The bomb exploded as two trucks with 50 soldiers passed by, killing one civilian and wounding 10 soldiers. In the third attack, a bomb blast killed two soldiers and wounded six others in the southwestern province of Narino. The deaths mark one of the deadliest days for the military since President Alvaro Uribe was first elected in 2002 on a pledge to bring peace to this country after more than 40 years on civil conflict. Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the hemisphere's oldest and largest insurgency, have since sought to avoid outright confrontation with the armed f |
