17 Colombian soldiers killed in ambush
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-07 12:03

Rebels ambushed a Colombian military convoy on Wednesday, killing 17 soldiers - the latest in a spate of bloody attacks that have undermined government claims the rebels are being defeated.

The troops were traveling in Arauca, an oil-rich state in northeastern Colombia used by the guerrillas to smuggle drugs and arms across the border in Venezuela, when they came under attack with explosives and gunfire, said Colombia's army chief, Gen. Reinaldo Castellanos.

Castellanos blamed the attack on guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has been battling to topple the government here for 40 years.

An army major and three other officers were among those killed in the ambush near Tame, 350 kilometers northeast of the capital, Bogota, Castellanos said in a statement.

"Some of the wounded were later shot in the head to finish them off," he told local radio.

In the past three months, the FARC has launched some of its boldest attacks on the military in two years, killing around 70 soldiers. Most recently on March 23, 12 Marines were killed when their convoy was blown up in one of Colombia's biggest cocaine-producing regions.

The ferocity of the FARC attacks has led many observers to question President Alvaro Uribe's claims that the rebels have gotten weaker since he ordered a costly, U.S.-backed military buildup upon coming to office more than two years ago.

Uribe has sought to downplay the significance of the attacks, saying the military committed "supervision errors, control errors, vigilance errors."

Colombia's conflict pits the FARC and a smaller rebel group against right-wing paramilitary factions and government forces, killing an estimated 3,500 people, mainly civilians, every year.

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