COLOMBIA

Deadly Ambush By Left Wing Guerrillas in Colombia
FARC rebels Kill 17 Soldiers and Wound 4

As reported by local newspaper “El Tiempo”, on November 30, at 23:00 hours local time a battalion of the Colombian army’s XXX Brigade was carrying out an inspection mission in an area known as “Abego” in the north east jungle area on the border with Venezuela when it was ambushed by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ( FARC).
As a result of the attack, 2 officers and 15 soldiers were killed while four were seriously wounded. The Colombian army informed that it sent troops belonging to the Second Division in order to pursue the FARC rebels and the fighting is continuing until today.
The Army also informed that a “wagon-bomb” has been left in the main road leading into the combat area but has yet to disactivated since the anti-bomb squad suspects it may be booby-trapped. This year 35 Army soldiers have been killed in similar ambushes carried out by left wing insurgents.
Meanwhile “El Tiempo” informed that the FARC is recruiting Peruvian peasants on the border with Colombia and is paying them US$ 20 in order to transport “base cocaine” from Peruto its bases in the Colombian jungle.
“About a year ago some men that said they were Colombians arrived here and began to hire people to work in a timber company. Five of my friends joined them but only two returned and said that the men belonged to FARC and made them work in a coca plantation,” said a peasant to “El Tiempo”.
According to the peasants, the FARC is not only dealing in cocaine, but also in timber and have formed an alliance with drug traffickers.
“The traffickers ask the guerrillas to protect them as they transport cocaine and timber up the Putumayo river,” said another peasant. In this area, 1300 hectares of coca plants have been detected, and the FARC charges for planting and protecting the plants.

COLOMBIAN POLICE ANTIBOMB EXPERT LOSES ARM IN EXPLOSION
....and the ambulance crashes on the way to hospital


On October 24, El Tiempo, a local newspaper reported on yet another bloody episode of the Colombian civil war that has been going on for nearly forty years. The incident occurred in the province of Huila, as the local city council carried out an anti-terrorist exercise that had been planned since two months ago. Alexander Peralta,(33) a police officer with five years experience in desactivating car bombs, booby trapped explosives and other dangerous devices planted by the left wing guerrillas, lost his hand after an accidental explosion of a device. The exercise was organized to prepare the civil servants on what to do in case of a terrorist attack or other emergency situations.
On Monday 23, the bomb experts of the Colombian police installed sevaral explosive devices in the building, and detonated three of the bombs at 6:00 a.m.The civil servants began to leave the building in an organized manner, without magining that a tragedy had occurred. Officer Peralta had been instructed to leave a noise bomb (an explosive device that does not cause any material damage)in a toilet but inexplicably the device exploded and tore off his hand.
Officer Peralta was evacuated in an ambulance that had been used to carry people simulating to be injured but unfortunately the vehicle crashed against a motorcycle, whose two passengers were seriously injured.

The Commander of the Police in Huila province,Coronel Miguel Bojaca stated that the causes of the accident are being investigated. Also he was shocked that it had occurred to one of his top bomb disposal experts.