Colombia-Rebels
8-10-1995
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ Braving gunfire, the Red Cross airlifted aid Thursday to a town that had been cut off for days following the bloodiest rebel attack in years.
Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia almost overran a police anti-narcotics base in Miraflores, in the heart of Colombia's poppy-growing region, 260 miles southeast of Bogota.
Their assault, which began Sunday, killed 26 people _ 13 rebels, seven police officers and six civilians, police said.
The rebels have pulled back to the jungle surrounding Miraflores, and hundreds of army troops flown in by armored helicopters and planes were hunting for them, Army Maj. Pedro Pablo Moreno told The Associated Press.
The rebels hit one helicopter with gunfire Thursday, but no one aboard was injured, a police spokesman said. The Red Cross plane was also hit by gunfire.
Commercial air service by several small companies was halted because the rebels said they would shoot down any aircraft approaching the town. Miraflores is accessible only by riverboat or aircraft.
The rebels destroyed Miraflores' hospital, bank, municipal offices and several businesses and homes, said regional Red Cross President Teddy Tornbaum, the first aid official to fly into the town of 5,000 residents.
Tornbaum flew into Miraflores aboard a leased DC-3 painted with a red cross and carrying medicine, food, mattresses, clothing and other aid supplies.
As the DC-3 was leaving Miraflores on another flight later Thursday, with refugees on board, gunfire hit it. Passengers were terrified as the ageing airplane was hit by nine bullets, evening newscasts said. No one was hurt.
In 18 hours of combat, the rebels, using machine guns, rockets, mortars and grenades, almost succeeded in wiping out the anti-narcotics base, according to one of the policemen, who was wounded in the leg by shrapnel.
"We had to retreat to other trenches by throwing grenades. We were almost overrun," the police officer, identified only as Fernando, told the newspaper El Tiempo.
In the Miraflores region, the rebels are paid by drug traffickers to protect crops of coca _ from which cocaine is made _ from government fumigation efforts, authorities claim.
The attack was the deadliest since Nov. 7, 1992, when the rebel group killed 26 police in Putumayo state, near the Ecuadorean border.
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) _ Braving gunfire, the Red Cross airlifted aid Thursday to a town that had been cut off for days following the bloodiest rebel attack in years.
Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia almost overran a police anti-narcotics base in Miraflores, in the heart of Colombia's poppy-growing region, 260 miles southeast of Bogota.
Their assault, which began Sunday, killed 26 people _ 13 rebels, seven police officers and six civilians, police said.
The rebels have pulled back to the jungle surrounding Miraflores, and hundreds of army troops flown in by armored helicopters and planes were hunting for them, Army Maj. Pedro Pablo Moreno told The Associated Press.
The rebels hit one helicopter with gunfire Thursday, but no one aboard was injured, a police spokesman said. The Red Cross plane was also hit by gunfire.
Commercial air service by several small companies was halted because the rebels said they would shoot down any aircraft approaching the town. Miraflores is accessible only by riverboat or aircraft.
The rebels destroyed Miraflores' hospital, bank, municipal offices and several businesses and homes, said regional Red Cross President Teddy Tornbaum, the first aid official to fly into the town of 5,000 residents.
Tornbaum flew into Miraflores aboard a leased DC-3 painted with a red cross and carrying medicine, food, mattresses, clothing and other aid supplies.
As the DC-3 was leaving Miraflores on another flight later Thursday, with refugees on board, gunfire hit it. Passengers were terrified as the ageing airplane was hit by nine bullets, evening newscasts said. No one was hurt.
In 18 hours of combat, the rebels, using machine guns, rockets, mortars and grenades, almost succeeded in wiping out the anti-narcotics base, according to one of the policemen, who was wounded in the leg by shrapnel.
"We had to retreat to other trenches by throwing grenades. We were almost overrun," the police officer, identified only as Fernando, told the newspaper El Tiempo.
In the Miraflores region, the rebels are paid by drug traffickers to protect crops of coca _ from which cocaine is made _ from government fumigation efforts, authorities claim.
The attack was the deadliest since Nov. 7, 1992, when the rebel group killed 26 police in Putumayo state, near the Ecuadorean border.
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