AP. 1 January 2002. Colombian Rebels Attack Five Towns Over New Year Holiday; 14 Killed.
BOGOTA -- Colombian guerrillas waged scattered attacks over the New Year holiday, leaving 14 people dead on the eve of peace talks, officials said Tuesday. Among those killed were eight soldiers who died when they stumbled on a mine field. This round of violence began Monday, when FARC guerrillas attacked the western towns of Purace and Coconuco with machine guns and homemade mortars, damaging houses and destroying the towns' police posts, the military said. Two police officers died in Purace before troops backed by warplanes helped police fend off the rebels, said acting army chief Gen. Euclides Sanchez. The soldiers killed in the mine field had been pursuing rebels who had attacked Coconuco and then retreated into the mountains, Sanchez added. Also Monday, rebels attacked the two southern towns of Berruecos and San Silvestre, the military said. In Berruecos, three police died and three civilians were injured when rebels attacked the police post with mortars. On Tuesday, one FARC guerrilla died and three civilians were wounded during a rebel raid on a military base in Arauca state, near the border with Venezuela. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
