Eight civilians and five government soldiers were wounded today when a car bomb exploded outside a military post on the edge of the rebel-controlled demilitarized zone in southern Colombia.
The car bomb was ignited in front of the headquarters of an army battalion in the municipality of Granada, Meta department, where soldiers are mobilizing to enter the Switzerland-sized demilitarized zone Marxist rebels control if peace talks break down.
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Mr James LeMoyne talks to reporters after yesterday's meeting
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The victims were lightly injured and are out of danger, according to reports.
In a separate incident before the attack Colonel Jorge Calderon, Meta chief of police, said that his officers arrested four men from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who were observing troop movements.
According to Col Calderon, the men said the FARC was planning a wave of car bomb attacks to stop soldiers mobilizing towards the demilitarized zone.
The attack came as talks between Mr James LeMoyne, the UN special advisor on Colombia, and FARC representatives was going on in the remote town of Los Pozos, inside the rebel-controlled haven in southern Colombia, in a last-minute attempt to revive the peace process.
They also came just hours before a deadline imposed by President Andres Pastrana for rebels from FARC to decide whether to return to peace talks. If the FARC opts out, soldiers will pour into their demilitarized haven within 48 hours.
However, both sides said the first day of talks ended yesterday on a positive note.
There are nearly 100,000 civilians living in the zone, controlled by FARC since November 1998.
AFP