Recent attacks have targeted power grid, reservoir

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) --Colombian rebels dynamited three electrical towers
Saturday, authorities said, the latest in a series of attacks against the country's
infrastructure that have left one coastal city without lights.

Fighters from the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC,
bombed two pylons in southern Huila state and a third in neighboring Valle Del
Cauca state early Saturday, Juan Manuel Sanchez, a regional police
commander, told reporters.

The attacks caused temporary power outages throughout the region.

In the past three days, suspected rebels have downed 18 electrical towers
throughout the country, according to a report in Saturday's editions of El
Tiempo newspaper. Rebels are also suspected of blowing up a reservoir
serving Cali, the country's third-largest city, this week, killing three security
guards.

Electricity to the western port city of Buenaventura wasn't expected to be
restored for three days after an attack Thursday. On Friday night, police
roamed the city's darkened streets enforcing a curfew declared by the mayor to
prevent looting.

Colombia's energy grid, water reservoirs, and oil pipelines are frequently
targeted by the rebels, who have been waging war against the government and
right-wing paramilitary forces for nearly four decades.

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.