Colombia says 4 soldiers killed in rebel attack

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A mortar attack by leftist rebels in Colombia's cocaine-producing southeastern jungle killed four soldiers from an elite counter-guerrilla unit and left another one missing, military officials said Tuesday. A platoon from the 7th Mobile Brigade was retrieving the bodies of two guerrillas killed in a bombardment when the soldiers came under attack, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told reporters. He said one soldier was also wounded in Monday's attack by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in an area of Guaviare state known as Cano Flauta. The Guaviare region is laced with rivers, thick jungle and plantations of coca, the basis for cocaine, which finances Colombia's illegal armed groups.