Posted on 05/20/2005 1:28:57 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
BOGOTA, Colombia – Marxist rebels staged two ambushes on Colombian police on jungle roads Thursday, killing 13 officers, the police said.
News of the ambushes came as details emerged of a weekend attack in which the U.S.-backed army and air force killed 16 rebels.
Guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia detonated explosives as a police patrol drove near the town of Tado in the northern rain forest province of Choco and then opened fire with assault rifles, an official with the National Police said. Ten police officers were killed.
Three more police were killed in a similar ambush on a jungle road in the southern province of Putumayo near the border with Ecuador.
The 13,000-strong revolutionary band known by the Spanish initials FARC has intensified attacks this year after a long period of relative inactivity during which the army boasted it had them on the run.
But the rebels have been driven from large parts of the country under the government of President Alvaro Uribe, who has increased military spending and forced the armed forces to be more aggressive in their four-decade-old war.
He is enthusiastically supported by the United States, which has provided more than $3 billion in mainly military aid to Colombia since 2000 to target rebels and the country's huge cocaine industry.
The armed forces landed one of the biggest blows against the FARC this year during the weekend.
On Saturday night, helicopters, ground attack aircraft and troops killed 16 Marxist rebels in an attack on a FARC column in the southern province of Caqueta, the air force said Thursday.
Video of the attack showed rebels scurrying for cover from aerial machine-gun fire.
The area around Caqueta, much of which is covered in thick jungle, was completely controlled by the FARC for three years until 2002, when it was the scene of failed peace talks with the previous government.
The FARC, which has minimal support in urban areas, began as a peasant militia and is fighting for socialist revolution. It funds itself with the cocaine trade and kidnapping for ransom and most of its recruits come from poor villages where young people have few prospects.
Thousands of people are killed each year in Colombia's conflict, which also involves illegal far-right paramilitary groups.
Chavez playing games again.
Qwinn
Sound familiar? Can you say IED? These indians have satellite TV. They watch CNN. They have contact with the IRA, Al Queida et al. Kill them now.
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