BOGOTA, Colombia, Oct 3 (Reuters) -
Five Colombian police were killed when Marxist rebels attacked a small
town outpost with assault rifles and home-made bombs, police said on Monday.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia,
known by the Spanish initials FARC, attacked the police station in the
small jungle town of Sipi in the northern province of Choco around nightfall
on Sunday and fighting continued into early Monday, National Police Operations
Chief Gen. Alberto Ruiz said.
He said a large force of rebels fired at officers with automatic weapons and blasted them with home-made mortar bombs.
About 40 police officers initially reported missing turned up unhurt and said they had fled into nearby jungle. Another eight officers were reported wounded and three were still missing, police said.
Security forces have now reasserted control over Sipi, which was also hit by a small earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale around the time of the attack, although it caused no damage.
Choco's rivers leading into the Pacific Ocean near Panama are key smuggling routes for weapons and cocaine, making it strategically important for the 17,000-strong FARC.
The FARC, who have been fighting for socialist revolution for more than four decades, stepped up attacks this year after a couple of years of relative inactivity following military offensives launched by President Alvaro Uribe.
The FARC has little support in the country's cities, and funds itself from the cocaine trade and kidnapping for ransom.
Rebels have killed more than 350 members of the security forces this year. Colombia has received more than $3 billion in mainly military U.S. aid to fight cocaine and rebels since 2000.