Colombian rebels kill three, try to sway voters

BOGOTA, Colombia, Mar 6 (Reuters) Colombian rebels killed three civilians with a bomb intended for soldiers today, the latest in a series of attacks President Alvaro Uribe called a ''cowardly'' attempt to erode his support ahead of elections.

The bomb blew up a house, killing a nearby 8-year-old boy and two women and injuring three soldiers in the southern jungle province of Caqueta. The blast came a day after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, made another electoral gambit by agreeing to a request from an opposition politician to release hostages.

Uribe, a close US ally who has made defeating the FARC one of his top priorities, is favored to win a second four-year term on May 28.

The FARC tried to give a boost to one of Uribe's rivals on Sunday by saying it had agreed to a request from former government minister Alvaro Leyva to release two police officers captured last year. But, Leyva, with only 0.2 per cent in polls, is not a serious threat to Uribe.

''The message from the FARC is that they will not negotiate peace with Uribe but they may negotiate with a different president,'' said Francisco Leal, political analyst at Bogota's University of the Andes. ''At the same time they are increasing attacks to show that Uribe's policies are not working.

''But every time they kill civilians, Uribe gains support because he is seen as the strongest candidate in terms of security,'' Leal said.

Today's ''house bomb'' was detonated by remote control as soldiers marched by on a street near the former rebel stronghold of San Vicente del Caguan. The rebels, who fund themselves through kidnapping and drug smuggling, often plant bombs in abandoned houses to be exploded as their targets pass by.

The FARC also attacked a remote village in the coffee-growing province of Caldas with mortar shells and assault rifles on Saturday, killing a baby and a police officer, after shooting 18 civilians to death in attacks on a town council and a broken-down rural bus late in February.

Thousands are killed every year in Colombia's conflict and tens of thousands more are forced from their homes.

Crime statistics have fallen sharply since Uribe took office in 2002. Human rights groups say he has given too much power to police and soldiers, some of whom have cooperated with illegal right-wing paramilitaries against their common rebel foe.

Legislative elections are on Sunday. Politicians say the paramilitaries are using violence to gain support in Congress, which they will use to try to protect themselves from extradition to the United States on drug charges.

REUTERS VJ RAI0340