Eight miners killed in Colombia
April 9th, 2010 - 8:18 am ICT by IANSBogota, April 9 (IANS/EFE) The bodies of eight miners killed by FARC guerrillas were found Thursday near a gold mine in a mountainous section of the southwestern Colombian province of Cauca, Caracol Radio reported.
A miner who survived the attack by pretending to be dead notified authorities of the killings.
A group of armed men wearing hoods surprised the miners, told them they should not be in the area and opened fire, the eyewitness, who was wounded in the attack, said.
Army troops, police and Attorney General’s Office investigators have arrived in Alto de Ovejas, located outside the city of Suarez, where the killings occurred.
The miners were likely killed by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrillas, officials said.
The miners are not from the area and moved here because of “gold fever,” Suarez Mayor Luis Antonio Colorado told Caracol Radio.
The FARC, Colombia’s oldest and largest leftist guerrilla group, was founded in 1964, has an estimated 8,000 to 17,000 fighters and operates across a large swath of this Andean nation.
President Alvaro Uribe’s administration has made fighting the FARC a top priority and has obtained billions in US aid for counterinsurgency operations.
The FARC, whose leader is Alfonso Cano, has suffered a series of setbacks in recent years.
On July 2, 2008, the Colombian army rescued former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, US military contractors Thomas Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves, and 11 other Colombian police officers and soldiers.
The FARC had been trying to trade the 15 captives, along with 25 other “exchangeables”, for hundreds of jailed guerrillas.
–IANS/EFE
sy
- Top Colombian rebel commander killed - Nov 05, 2011
- Guerrillas use dead body in attack in Colombia - Dec 08, 2011
- Colombia's FARC frees 10 captives - Apr 03, 2012
- Bomb strapped to horse wounds two Colombian soldiers - Jul 12, 2011
- Colombia's FARC rules out surrender - Apr 20, 2012
- Colombian guerrilla who guarded Betancourt surrenders - Sep 15, 2009
- Colombian rebels say they're holding French reporter - May 02, 2012
- 12 Colombian rebels killed - Jul 12, 2010
- Colombian troops kill rebel blamed for 84 deaths - Apr 18, 2012
- Kidnapped Colombian politician found dead - Dec 23, 2009
- Colombian rebels recruited teenagers, says activist - May 19, 2012
- 39 killed in Colombia clashes - Nov 11, 2009
- Colombian boy walks 70 km to seek father's release - Jul 04, 2010
- Colombian rebels set condition for freeing French reporter - May 08, 2012
- Six including a general killed in Brazil chopper collision - Apr 21, 2010
Tags: alfonso cano, andean nation, armed men, army troops, caracol radio, colombian army, colombian police, counterinsurgency operations, farc, farc colombia, gold fever, guerrilla group, keith stansell, luis antonio, marc gonsalves, military contractors, president alvaro uribe, revolutionary armed forces of colombia, thomas howes, top priority