/ 11 August 2005

Thirty rebels killed in Columbia

At least 30 rebels died in an aerial bombardment of their camps in northwestern Colombia, authorities said on Wednesday.

Colombian Air Force combat aircraft bombed three rural areas along a border between the provinces of Antioquia and Choco, west of Medellin, where rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) were camped, Carlos Riano, who heads the DAS secret police in Antioquia, told local radio networks.

”Our forensic work confirms more than 30 Farc casualties,” he told Radio Caracol.

Riano said that the army continued a ground offensive against the rebels in the region.

Meanwhile, in southeastern Colombia, two Farc rebels were killed in battles with the army on the border between the provinces of Meta and Vichada, the army said.

”Troops are inspecting metre by metre a large region that has been penetrated by the subversive group and so far, we have killed two rebels,” Fourth Army Division commander Gilberto Rocha said.

Rocha said that the rebels, led by Tomas Medina, whom the United States wants to extradite to face drug charges, had moved into an area abandoned by right-wing paramilitary irregulars of the United Self Defence Forces of Colombia, who demobilised on the weekend. – Sapa-AFP