At least five soldiers and four state security agents were killed in an ambush by FARC militias in northeast Colombia today, as fighting increases ahead of May's presidential election.
The army blamed the attack, carried out in mountainous Norte de Santander province near the Venezuelan border, on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), leftist rebels fighting a four-decade-old war against the state.
"There was an ambush using explosives in which five soldiers and four DAS (Administrative Security) agents died. It is possible that there are more dead. We have several people missing," army chief Mario Montoya told reporters.
Dozens of rebel fighters have been killed in recent clashes, including 22 killed by the army last week alone in the southern jungle province of Caqueta.
Violence has increased ahead of the May 28th vote, in which President Alvaro Uribe, popular for cutting crime as part of his US-backed military crackdown on the rebels, is expected to win reelection.
Security analysts say the 17,000-strong FARC is increasing attacks to discredit Mr Uribe's security program and to scare people away from voting in order to rob him of electoral legitimacy.
Human Rights Watch criticized the FARC for "massacring" dozens of civilians, including children, in an effort to intimidate voters ahead of March legislative elections.
The FARC, which funds itself through cocaine smuggling, says it is fighting for socialism in a country with deep divisions between rich and poor. But even mainstream leftist politicians say the group has scant popular support.