Six die in Colombia bombing

Six people died on Sunday after Colombian rebels detonated explosives near a police patrol in Buenaventura city, police said.

Six die in Colombia bombing

Two police officers and four civilians died, with at least 18 more people wounded, when two explosives were set off in the Pacific port city, a police spokesman said.

 

Saulo Quinones, the Buenaventura mayor, said: "The police were drawn in by a fight between two men. As they were approaching, one bomb went off and then a second that ended with this tragic result."

 

Authorities say Buenaventura is a key channel for illicit drug trade in Colombia.

 

Utilising millions in US aid, Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's president, has reduced violence by sending troops to take areas under rebel control and demobilise right-wing militias who once fought guerrillas.

 

Left-wing rebels

 

Despite government efforts, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest left-wing rebel group, is still strong in rural areas.

 

US and Colombian officials say FARC is a drug-trafficking terrorist organisation.

 

A car bomb destroyed most of a milk storage plant run by Nestle, a Swiss company, on Wednesday after FARC killed five officers in a bomb attack on a police truck near the border with Ecuador.

 

More than 600 troops and police were killed in combat last year and thousands of people are still forced from their homes each year by fighting between state forces and rebels.

 

Colombia is the world's top producer of cocaine, with most of its crop destined for the United States and Europe.

Güncelleme Tarihi: 20 Eylül 2018, 18:16
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