By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

          BOGOTÁ, Colombia, March 27 -- Fierce guerrilla attacks on two
          northern fishing towns killed at least 30 people during the
          weekend, including 24 police officers, a mayor, and two children,
          officials said.

          At least seven police officers were taken prisoner by the rebel
          Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Colombia's largest leftist
          insurgency, officials said. Four other officers were missing.

          Troops regained control on Sunday night of Vigía del Fuerte -- site of the
          worst clash -- and found the riverfront town of 1,200 in ruins.

          Rebel machine-gun fire and homemade missiles destroyed a church, the
          mayor's office, the police barracks, the telephone company and 10
          houses near the main plaza in the town, near the border with Panama.

          Twenty-one police officers died trying to repel the 36-hour barrage,
          which began on Saturday. Six civilians also died, including the mayor,
          Pastor Perea, and two children, the Antioquia state government reported.

          "It was a merciless attack," Fernando Aristizábal, a top state official told
          Colombia's Caracol Radio.

          The rebels also hit Bojaya, a nearby town in neighboring Choco State,
          where, Mr. Aristizábal reported, three police officers were killed.

          Rebel attacks on rural towns and remote military installations are
          continuing despite peace talks with the government of President Andrés
          Pastrana. The two are negotiating without a cease-fire.

          The rebels are also suspected of setting off a car bomb on Sunday that
          killed a police cadet and injured 16 civilians in a crowded market in
          Girardot, a popular tourist spot 60 miles south of Bogotá.

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