BOGOTA: Colombia’s FARC rebels killed a policeman and a child with a grenade in what the defence minister called a “demented, diabolical” attack and police said the guerillas also blew up an oil pipeline.
Fighting has intensified since a unilateral FARC ceasefire expired on January 20.
The violence comes even as the two sides talk peace in Havana to try to end a five-decade-long war that has killed tens of thousands of people.
Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said the FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, killed a policeman and a boy in a village in the southeastern province of Guaviare on Monday night while residents tried to put out a fire the rebels had started.
“In whose mind does it make sense to throw a grenade at a group of people, police and citizens who are working shoulder to shoulder to put out a fire? ... In what war, under what logic is that acceptable? None,” Pinzon told journalists yesterday.
In a separate attack in the southern Putumayo department, the guerrilla group blew up a pipeline, police said. It was not clear which line was attacked.
REUTERS
