AP. 26 January 2002. Presumed Leftist Rebels Kill Five Policemen in Northern Colombia.
BOGOTA -- A day after a bomb killed four police in Colombia's capital, presumed leftist guerrillas on Saturday ambushed and killed five others along a northern road, police said. The five policemen were traveling in vehicles in Cesar province when the guerrillas stopped them by detonating a bomb and then opening fire, National Police spokeswoman Azucena Lievano told The Associated Press. Although it wasn't immediately clear who was behind the ambush near Manaure, about 370 miles north of Bogota, the capital, police suspect it was one of the two main leftist rebel groups. Authorities blame the nation's largest rebel army - the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC - for Friday's explosion in Bogota that killed four police officers. The bomb, planted on a bicycle, tore through a restaurant where the police officers were having lunch. The FARC have not commented on the explosion, but have claimed responsibility for a recent wave of attacks throughout the country. Hours before news of Saturday's ambush, the ruling party's newly-appointed presidential candidate, Juan Camilo Restrepo, urged the armed forces to strike back at the rebels. Meanwhile, the army said its soldiers killed five FARC fighters on Saturday in southern Colombia while police accused the rebels of attacking police stations in five towns late Friday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
