Colombian troops kill 10 police in “friendly fire”

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) – A Colombian army patrol
accidentally killed 10 police officers engaged in an undercover
operation in one of the country’s worst “friendly fire”
incidents, authorities said on Monday.

A civilian was also shot dead by the army patrol.

The deadly confusion just days before elections dealt a
blow to President Alvaro Uribe who has led a military crackdown
on left-wing FARC rebels, rightist paramilitary militia and the
cocaine trade that illegal armed groups use for financing.

“In the course of army and police operations … there was
a incident involving the security forces during which 10 police
and one civilian were killed,” Defense Minister Camilo Ospina
told reporters.

The incident took place in a rural region of Valle
province, where drug traffickers and the 17,000-strong
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, the country’s
largest left-wing rebel group, are active.

Uribe, a Washington ally whose government has received
billions of dollars in U.S. anti-drug and military aid, is
popular for reducing crime and kidnapping in the cities and is
expected to win re-election in Sunday’s ballot.

But thousands of people are still killed or forced from
their homes each year by illegal armed groups who control large
parts of Colombia’s rural countryside and jungle.

Uribe was elected in 2002 promising to smash the insurgency
by the FARC. Since then his government has demobilized 30,000
right-wing militia fighters and started talks with the smaller
ELN rebel group. But the FARC will not negotiate.

Colombia’s security forces have been involved in eight
so-called friendly fire incidents since 2004 that have killed
32 soldiers or police officers and five civilians.

Uribe’s critics say increased government pressure for
results from his security forces has triggered friendly fire
incidents and human rights abuses against civilians caught up
the conflict.