BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- Unidentified gunmen killed the brother of the head of Colombia's second-largest Marxist rebel group -- the fourth killing in an
apparent murder campaign against the guerrilla chief's family, police said on Sunday.

Liberdo Rodriguez, brother of fugitive ELN chief Nicolas Rodriguez, was shot to death on Saturday night as he played "tejo" -- a traditional Colombian game in which players
hurl metal discs at an explosive target, a police spokesman said.

Three other brothers and one sister of Nicolas Rodriguez -- also known as "Gabino" -- have been murdered since 1997 in an apparent campaign rebels have blamed on
far-right paramilitary outlaws.

The unidentified gunmen got away, the police spokesman said.

The latest killing, in a small town in the province of Santander, comes just weeks after the government of President Andres Pastrana broke off contacts aimed at making peace
with the Cuban-inspired ELN, or National Liberation Army.

A breakthrough in ELN talks had seemed likely earlier this year, but the two sides failed to agree on the establishment of a demilitarized enclave for the rebels to use as a safe
haven for talks. The 5,000-member ELN accuses the armed forces of tolerating the existence of paramilitaries, whose military offensives have weakened the rebels.

As Pastrana enters the last year of his four-year term in office, peace talks with another, larger Marxist guerrilla force -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or
FARC -- are also in trouble.

About 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the past decade alone of Colombia's 37-year old conflict, which has flared in recent years.

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