CHIQUINQUIRA, Colombia (AP) -- An explosive placed around a woman's neck
                  by men demanding money went off Monday as technicians tried to deactivate it,
                  killing the woman and wounding a bomb technician and three soldiers.

                  Elvia Cortez, 53, was "practically decapitated" when a 3-inch-thick circular tube
                  containing explosives went off around her neck, army Lt. Col. Fabio Roa said.
                  The explosion occurred by a rural highway outside this town in central Boyaca
                  State.

                  Just before dawn, four men burst into her home on a farm outside town, placed
                  the collar around her neck, and told her they would detonate it at 3 p.m. if she
                  failed to pay them $7,500, Roa said. The four men then left.

                  Police were called, drove Mrs. Cortez to the side of a nearby highway flanked by
                  cow pastures, and began trying to deactivate the bomb. A technician was
                  working on the explosive-packed collar when the device went off at about 1
                  p.m, Roa said.

                  The technician lost his left arm, one soldier lost three fingers, another part of his
                  forearm, and another suffered cuts.

                  Mrs. Cortez was the mother of four children. Family members of were present
                  when the collar exploded.

                  Roa said the assailants were probably from the country's largest rebel band, the
                  Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The group finances itself in
                  part through kidnappings and armed extortion, and sometimes kills those who
                  refuse to pay.

                  Common criminals also kidnap and extort people for money in the South
                  American country.

                  Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.