|
Ambush on Venezuela-Colombia border kills 7
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-18 15:41
Six Venezuelan soldiers and an oil engineer were killed when an armed group
attacked a military patrol and state oil company employees near the border with
Colombia, Venezuela's defense minister said.
Gen. Jorge Garcia Carneiro did not identify the attackers but Venezuela's
armed forces have clashed in the past with Colombian left-wing guerrillas and
right-wing paramilitaries entering from the neighboring country.
Friday's attack was one of the most serious incidents reported recently on
the volatile border between the two Andean countries. Another soldier and a
civilian engineer were injured in the clash, which took place near the border
village of La Victoria, 25 miles (40 kms) from Guasdualito in the southwest
state of Apure.
Venezuela rushed troops and armed helicopters to the area to try to capture
the attackers, whom Garcia called "terrorists."
"We are doing everything possible to ensure that these events do not go
unpunished," the defense minister told state television late on Friday.
Military officials said the group of Venezuelan soldiers and employees of the
state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, were ambushed as they were
inspecting the Guafita oil field.
They said the civilian engineer killed was 23-year-old Ana Laura Carrasco.
Relations between Venezuela and Colombia have been strained in the past by
border incidents.
Colombia's government and military have in the past accused left-wing
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of sympathizing with, and even collaborating
with, Colombian Marxist guerrillas fighting a four-decade war.
Chavez, who was first elected in 1998 and won a referendum on his rule last
month, has angrily denied the charges.
He has criticized the government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for not
doing enough to maintain security on the border, which stretches from the
Caribbean coast in the north to the jungles of the Amazon in the south.
Venezuelan officials have also accused Colombia's military of having links
with Colombian right-wing paramilitaries they say often foray across the border
to raid and kidnap civilians in oil-rich Venezuela.
Garcia said he would travel to the border region Saturday to join the hunt
for the attackers.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top World
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
