Paramilitaries kill 22 peasants in Colombia
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-13 10:00

The Colombian army said Monday that paramilitaries from the right-wing Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) killed 22 peasants in the northern municipality of Cumani last week.

Local morgues have received seven bodies whose identities were confirmed as peasants in two villages named Las Mas Verde and Nuevo Horizonte, according to a statement issued by the army.

The statement did not give the motive for the killing.

The Association for Social Alternatives (MINGA), a non-governmental organization, said the killing was carried out by the AUC unit Bloque 40, led by AUC commander Rodrigo Tovar, also known as Jorge 40.

The AUC is an armed group formed in the 1980s by drug traffickers and land owners to fight guerrillas in areas where government troops had little control.

It started peace talks with the government in December 2002 and agreed to disarm its 11,000-more fighters last year. But the process came to a halt this year when the government decided to extradite Diego Murrillo, an AUC leader also known as Don Berna, to the United States.