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World Landmine News
2 Colombian police officers killed by landmine; chief says rebels uninterested in peace - International Herald Tribune
Two police officers on an anti-drug mission were killed by a land mine on Thursday, prompting the director of Colombia's national police to say that rebels are not interested in peace despite recent overtures.
The mine exploded during a morning operation to eradicate coca — the key ingredient in cocaine — in the town of Puerto Rico, some 340 kilometers (215 miles) south of the capital of Bogota. Two officers died and another three were injured.
"In these conditions, nobody is going to believe (the rebels) want a peace process," said Jorge Castro, director of Colombia's national police, apparently blaming the deaths on rebels belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
The government and the FARC have recently exchanged a series of messages, raising hopes that the two may soon start talks on swapping 62 prominent hostages for imprisoned guerrillas.
Speaking in the town of Facatativa, 30 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital, Castro said the killings "show (the FARC's) spirit of narco-terrorists."
The FARC is widely believed to rely on the drug trade to fund its more than four-decade battle against the government and right-wing paramilitaries. But it objects to being labeled a terrorist group, insisting that the organization is an armed resistance.
Posted: Thursday, October 12, 2006
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