BY TIM JOHNSON

 BOGOTA, Colombia -- In a savage attack, guerrillas overran a jungle town in
 northwest Colombia over the weekend and killed 21 police officers, hacking many
 with machetes and burning their corpses, authorities said Monday.

 Although the rebels do not claim responsibility for such attacks, police blamed
 the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which operates in the area.
 They said they would denounce the rebel attack before international human rights
 tribunals.

 ``This was an outrageous, demented attack,'' said Gen. Alfonso Leon Arellano,
 operational commander of the National Police. ``They murdered 21 of our police
 . . . and we have learned that they were burned and chopped with machetes.''

 The attack is sure to accelerate a retreat by police from rural towns, where
 precincts remain vulnerable to far better-equipped rebel armies.

 Already, 176 of Colombia's 1,085 townships have no police protection at all. The
 townships comprise 16 percent of Colombia's national territory, and they have
 been virtually turned over to the mercy of anyone with a gun.

 The attack began Saturday night, when assailants lobbed homemade mortars at
 the police outpost in Vigia del Fuerte, a town 230 miles northwest of Bogota that
 is largely populated by Colombians of African descent. The siege lasted until
 early Monday and left the police outpost, church and numerous homes destroyed,
 authorities said.

 In addition to the 21 police officers, authorities said the gunmen killed the town's
 mayor, two children ages 2 and 3, and five other civilians. Six people were
 reported missing in the nearby village of Bellavista.

 Leaders of the police and armed forces voiced shock at the violence of the attack,
 directly blaming a member of the seven-man FARC secretariat for ordering the
 assault.

 ``They were under the command of Ivan Marquez, who has lately been using
 extreme cruelty against the civilian population,'' said Gen. Fernando Tapias,
 commander of the armed forces.

 Members of the 110,000-strong National Police, who enjoy wide respect in
 Colombia, have become more militarized in recent years. In many rural towns,
 precincts are now protected by sandbag berms and machine guns.

 While TV newscasts highlighted the attack, senior police officials deplored the
 lack of public outcry at the loss of life.

 ``We are astonished and saddened at the lack of solidarity in the country with the
 police, who are serving in the farthest settlements,'' police Gen. Alfredo Salgado
 said.

 FARC insurgents have made a practice of amassing rebel forces to overrun small
 towns and villages. Last year, rebels attacked 106 towns, a fivefold increase since
 1995. But they are not the only armed group to use brutality. Right-wing
 paramilitary forces murdered 45 peasants in mid-February in northern Colombia.
 

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald