Attack Was Part of Offensive Against Towns Controlled by Outlawed Militia

Associated Press

BOGOTA, Colombia, Dec. 31 -- Leftist rebels have attacked a village controlled by outlawed paramilitary forces in northern Colombia, killing 39 of the militia fighters and a villager, police said Wednesday.

The assault Tuesday in Pozo Azul, in Bolivar state, was one of a series of attacks on villages controlled by the paramilitary fighters, said a police commander, Col. Jesus Gomez. Rebels also attacked the villages of Monterrey and Pueblo; no deaths were immediately reported.

Authorities said Tuesday's fighting was part of a continuing war between the rebels and the paramilitary forces to gain control of the region's drug trade, an important source of financing for both sides.

The paramilitary groups, now outlawed by the Colombian government, were created to battle the rebels.

More than 500 rebels of both the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National Liberation Army began the assault at dawn Tuesday, firing homemade mortars and burning vehicles, Gomez said.

Paramilitary fighters responded with gunfire.

The rebels left the bodies of the dead paramilitary fighters in the main plaza of the nearby village of San Blas before retreating, Gomez said. The civilian fatality, a woman, was reported to have been killed by stray bullets. Pozo Azul residents said the rebels also suffered casualties but carried away the bodies.

The army was sent in to secure the mountainous region 200 miles north of Bogota, the capital, Gomez said.

Also Wednesday, a member of a commission seeking the release of hostages held by the FARC said two Roman Catholic Church officials held a secret meeting last weekend with a FARC leader, Raul Reyes, to try to negotiate an accord.

Bishop Luis Augusto Castro and the Rev. Dario Echeverri met with Reyes in an undisclosed location of southern Colombia on Saturday, commission member Cesar Velasquez told Caracol Radio.

The FARC is holding dozens of hostages -- including soldiers, police officers, politicians and three U.S. military contractors -- whom they want to trade for guerrillas being held by the government. The rebel group also kidnaps hundreds of Colombian civilians each year to collect ransom money that helps fund their fight against the government.

Colombia is torn by a 39-year civil war that pits the rebels against the government and the paramilitary groups. About 3,500 people, mainly civilians, die in the fighting each year.

© 2004