From: "Stasi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Peoples War] Colombia: Govt Links "Gas" Attack To IRA - BBC Wednesday, 5 September, 2001, 21:16 GMT 22:16 UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1527000/1527683.stm Colombia links 'gas' attack to IRA ======================= The conflict in Colombia has raged for 37 years Colombian police say a suspected gas attack on a police station by Marxist guerrillas could be the result of training by the IRA. Three suspected IRA men are being held in prison in the capital Bogota charged with training guerrillas in explosives and urban warfare. General Fernando Tapias, head of the armed forces, said groups including the IRA could be connected to the attack by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in which four policemen died. Three suspected IRA men are awaiting trial in Colombia Only one policeman in San Adolfo municipality in Huila province was killed by bullet wounds, and six wounded officers all have lung problems. A senior police officer said the FARC had used improvised mortars loaded with poisonous gas. General Tapias said: "I do not rule out that the use of chemicals in the guerrilla incursion into San Adolfo was the result of the assimilation of terrorist technologies of movements such as the IRA". But some experts say the FARC does not have the knowledge or the need to use chemical weapons and there has never been any evidence of poison gas attacks by the IRA. Tests Col Francisco Javier Caicedo, commander of the Huila police, said tests were being made in Bogota to establish the chemical that was used. Gina Leon, wife of Jairo Morales Bernales, one of the dead policemen, told radio stations that her husband's lungs "exploded". President Pastrana has US support She said residents of San Adolfo told her that the guerrillas had used domestic cooking gas cylinders filled with a chemical substance. Meanwhile, Colombian President Andres Pastrana defended the widely criticised safe haven ceded to the rebels more than two years ago. He warned that "if there is no demilitarised zone there will be war". The enclave in the underdeveloped south was granted to the FARC to launch peace talks, but the agreement expires on 7 October. The president did not commit himself to renewing the enclave deal, but said most Colombians would prefer peace to an escalation of the 37-year-old conflict. A high-level US delegation last week expressed support for Mr Pastrana's peace efforts, saying negotiations were the only way to achieve peace. Washington has given about $1bn in mainly military aid for Mr Pastrana's anti-drugs offensive. US Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit Colombia on 11 September. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
