Clashes Kill 50 in Colombia

Clashes between guerrillas, paramilitaries and government troops over the weekend left 50 people dead and 35 others injured, according to a military report released in Bogota.

At least 30 guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were killed on Saturday and Sunday in clashes with government forces near the dismantled demilitarized enclave where peace talks took place.

Four soldiers died near El Doncello and Paujil, southwest Colombia.

The military report said that in the southwestern city of Corinto, the far-right paramilitaries of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) killed seven people and wounded 12 others when they threw a bomb into a pub.

Four people were killed instantly. Three youngsters in the pub attempting to flee were shot dead on the street by the paramilitaries.

In Chingorodo, northwest Colombia, nine peasants died when a bomb was detonated by the FARC.

Meanwhile, an Indian regional organization in the southwestern province of Valle del Cauca said that during the weekend, presumed government soldiers killed Javier Noscue, who had been kidnapped hours before together with five people in southern Colombia.

(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2002)