Eight Colombian police were killed and another wounded Friday in a
suspected attack by Marxist FARC rebels in eastern Colombia, officials
told AFP.
The ambush took place early Friday in the town of Fortul, not far
from the Venezuelan border, a police spokesman for the Arauca region
told AFP.
Gun-toting attackers “activated the device and finished
the police off with rifle shots. They killed the commander of the
station, the deputy commander, the secretary, two corporals and three
patrolmen,” said the spokesman on condition of anonymity.
Another police officer was wounded and transferred to a local hospital.
“It
was a cowardly attack because they had a bomb … This is not a form of
combat, it is a cowardly terrorist attack,” Defense Minister Juan
Manuel Santos told reporters.
Santos did not rule out that the
attack may have been perpetrated by the National Liberation Army (ELN),
a lesser-known rebel group.
The incident occurred two days after
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attacked another
police patrol in the southwestern region of Nariño, injuring two
policemen.
Santos told AFP the FARC “is surviving in very
precarious conditions and the government is still ready to negotiate
for peace … but the guerrillas are not showing any signs they are
willing to negotiate.”
The FARC still have about 7,000 members, Santos added. Non-governmental organizations put the number at some 10,000 men. (AFP)