Colombian pre-inauguration attacks leave 16 dead

Bogota (Colombia), Aug 1: Fifteen soldiers were killed in a rebel ambush in northern Colombia and a Bogota car bomb killed a civilian, marking an increase in violence before President Alvaro Uribe starts his second term.

An army patrol was ambushed with explosives near the town of Tibu in North Santander province near Venezuela, killing 15, the army said yesterday.

In a separate incident hours earlier, the Bogota car bomb targeted a military convoy, injuring another 15 soldiers, shattering windows in dozens of buildings and killing a homeless man who was collecting recyclable garbage on the street.

Bogota is on maximum alert ahead of Uribe's August seven inauguration. Four years ago his first swearing-in was marred by rebel missile attacks that killed 21 people and injured 60.

Colombia, the world's biggest cocaine exporter, often sees an increase in violence at election and inauguration time.

The 17,000-strong Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, formed more than 40 years ago, says it is fighting for equality in a country with huge gaps between rich and poor. But even mainstream leftist politicians say the group has scant popular support.

Uribe, whose father was killed by rebels in a botched kidnapping more than 20 years ago, is popular for his US-backed crackdown on the guerrillas. He won re-election in a 62-per cent landslide in May.

Uribe is credited with reducing crime, particularly in urban areas, and opening transportation routes long off limits due to guerrillas who fund themselves through cocaine smuggling and kidnapping for ransom. But many rural parts of the country remain under rebel control.

The southern jungle province of Caqueta was left without electricity yesterday after rebels bombed power installations, authorities said.

Analysts say the FARC is eager to show that Uribe's tough security policies have not crippled its ability to make war.

''Assuming it was the FARC that carried out these attacks, it implies a shift in strategy,'' said Francisco Leal, a political analyst at Bogota's University of the Andes.

Reuters