Reuters. 2 February 2002. Colombian rebels try to bombard bus station.
BOGOTA -- In what appeared to be the latest of a wave of leftist rebel attacks, suspected FARC guerrillas tried unsuccessfully to bombard a bus station in Colombia's capital Bogota Saturday, police said. The suspected rebels managed to fire off one home-made mortar bomb at the bus station in the neighborhood of El Porvenir in the early hours of Saturday morning, when it had closed for the night, police said. The prompt arrival of the police forced them to abandon two pick-up trucks loaded with another five of the mortars -- made out of gas canisters. Their only shot missed, and injured no one, but they managed to escape, police said. The inaccurate gas-cylinder mortars are a trademark weapon of the 17,000-strong Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known by the Spanish initials "FARC." The FARC, the country's largest leftist rebel force, has launched an offensive throughout the country since reaching a deal with the government on January 20 to negotiate a deal by an April 7 deadline toward implementing a cease-fire. Analysts say that the FARC onslaught could be calculated to show it has not gone soft. ['Analysts' don't seem to have any speculations about the AUC, which has publicly rejected the peace process.] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
