BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A car bomb rocked the eastern city of Cucuta on
                 Friday, just hours after Colombia's government pledged a concerted effort
                 against a wave of terrorist violence. No one was injured.

                 A stolen taxi loaded with explosives was detonated in front of a warehouse at 1:30
                 a.m. (0730 GMT), wrecking it and several buildings nearby, police said.

                 Officials estimated the damage at $270,000 and blamed the explosion on the
                 National Liberation Army, or ELN, Colombia's second-largest rebel group.

                 The bombing was the second this week in Cucuta, 390 kilometers (240 miles)
                 northeast of Bogota. Interior minister Armando Estrada visited the city Friday and
                 surveyed the damage.

                 Meanwhile, two suspected rebels died when a bomb they were carrying exploded
                 around midnight Thursday in the city of Medellin, police said. Officials believe they
                 were preparing to bomb an electrical tower.

                 Rebels have downed 50 electrical towers around the country since January, causing
                 blackouts in several towns.

                 Responding to the wave of terror attacks that have killed about 40 police, soldiers
                 and civilians in the past week alone, President Andres Pastrana announced new
                 measures Thursday night to combat the violence, including government rewards
                 for information on attacks and increased security around cities.

                 The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's largest rebel
                 group, is believed to be responsible for most of the attacks.

                 In addition to the bombing of electrical towers, the FARC has been blamed for the
                 bombing of a reservoir that serves the capital, and the destruction of two bridges.

                 The government is negotiating separately with the ELN and the FARC for an end to
                 Colombia's 38-year civil war.

                 The FARC agreed on January 20 to an April deadline to reach an agreement for a
                 cease-fire. Three years of talks with the 16,000-strong leftist army have yielded
                 little of substance.

                 Meanwhile, negotiators from the government and the ELN have been meeting in
                 Havana, Cuba, this week -- the first formal talks since negotiations with the ELN
                 broke down in August.

                 Some 3,500 people die every year in the fighting, which pits the two rebel groups
                 against the U.S.-backed military and an illegal right-wing paramilitary force.

                 The military announced Friday that the paramilitary force, known as the United
                 Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, killed nine peasants and kidnapped another 12 in
                 two northern towns.

                  Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.