Posted on 05/03/2002 2:23:11 PM PDT by colette_g
The authorities in Colombia say at least 60 civilians have been killed and about 100 others injured in a bomb attack by suspected rebels in a remote western province.
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According to witnesses, the victims were killed when guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) set off a mortar bomb in a crowded church in the town of Bojaya, in the Choco province.
Residents are thought to have sought refuge inside the church to escape fierce fighting between the left-wing rebels and right-wing paramilitaries.
The scene was one of utter devastation. Local government spokesman, Jorge Caicedo, described the killings as a national tragedy and called for urgent humanitarian help.
Correspondents say it is one of the deadliest attacks by the FARC on civilians in recent years.
Fight for lucrative trade
For several days the FARC guerrillas have been fighting the paramilitaries of the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) in the dense jungle around the town of Bojaya.
Despite warnings the security forces were nowhere to be seen
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Then the fighting moved in the town itself, and the mayor gathered the people into what he thought were the safest places - the church and adjoining square.
The Colombian human rights ombudsman, Eduardo Cifuentes, said that despite advance warnings that the local community was vulnerable to attack, no troop reinforcements had been sent to the area.
The target for the illegal armies is the River Atrato that runs through Choco and on which the town of Bojaya sits.
The BBC correspondent in Colombia says that whoever controls the river also controls the lucrative trade in drugs, arms and contraband that makes its way to and from Panama and the Caribbean coast.
At least 35,000 people have been killed over the last decade of violence in Colombia, and about two million people have fled the country.
Jeee... sounds a lot like our islamobombos in Israel... setting off bombs in proximity to religious gatherings...
The trail of islamobombo fascism leads to communism... china, fidel... and hold outs in old moskow?
The lefties and faschists are doing every thing they can to get a full scale war going on in South America too. Letsee... Southeast asia, south america, middle east, and africa... What's next? L. A. and the hispanic reconquistas???
I hope Bush gets more involved in this (and it seems that he is trying to do so), because what is operating in Colombia is a major left-wing terrorist network (FARC, IRA, ETA, Islamic groups) that is probably going to make its way to our cities and churches one of these days.
I bookmarked it... for study later. I have already seen bits and snatches of it around... too bad the media has missed the connections altogether... must be an OVERSIGHT on their part... heh heh... or they ARE PART OF IT.
Nice to see freepers have put the topic together for all to see in one or two very easy to read spots...
good work.
in a pile of used books- pick it up. It's old, but has a lot of the alphabet-soup terror/nationalist movements listed who are still players today.
Unionists point to the presence of three IRA suspects awaiting trial in Bogotá over allegations that they trained Farc guerrillas. The trio includes James Monaghan, a convicted IRA man and weapons innovator. It was Monaghan back in 1973 who invented the IRA mortar.
Alongside Monaghan is Martin McCauley, a leading figure in the IRA's engineering department who has perfected home-made mortar-like missiles. The Colombian military says McCauley's imprint has been evident in recent Farc attacks.
Terrorists from the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) had detonated a small bomb earlier this month hoping to draw troops into a deadly trap. When they arrived, a second, larger bomb exploded, killing the youths instead of the security forces.
See hyperlink in #11 posting above
A VERY remarkable article has appeared in this week's An Phoblacht/Republican News. The article is in Irish and, perhaps for that reason, it seems to have attracted less attention than it deserves. The article is headed Bush as Smacht - 'Bush out of control'- I shall translate the first three sentences which give an idea of the tenor of the whole piece "We already know that George W Bush is out of his mind, and that he is inclined to make difficulties worse instead of solving them. It seems likely that the Bush authority wants to keep the whole world under control, with the biggest bombs he has. They would prefer to use violence rather than to solve political difficulties."
More at Irish Independent article
Published 4/29/2002
Of those IRA members arrested, Mr. Monaghan is a key figure in the IRA's engineering department — which designs mortars, rockets and homemade bombs. Known to his colleagues as "Mortar Monaghan," British authorities said he designed the IRA's homemade mortar from a 1974 prototype known as the Mark I to the sophisticated Mark 18 Mortar, known as the "barracks buster."
Mr. Monaghan, 55, has been identified as a former member of the Executive Council of Sinn Fein. He was convicted in 1971 for possession of explosives and conspiracy and served three years in prison. Colombian authorities said he entered that country in July 2001 and less than a week later, traveled with Mr. Connolly and Mr. McCauley to an FARC-controlled area.
Mr. Connolly, 36, is considered one of the best weapons experts in the IRA and is believed to have first made contact with the FARC five years ago through ETA, the Basque terrorist group that specializes in bombings and assassinations of Spanish government officials.
Mr. McCauley, 38, is believed to be an expert in the production of weapons and mortars.
He served two years after his 1985 conviction in the illegal possession of firearms.
More at Washington Times
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