5 Colombian police officers killed, 4 wounded in roadside bombing blamed on leftist rebels

5 police officers killed by road bomb in Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian authorities say five police officers were killed and four wounded by a roadside bomb while on patrol in an area where leftist rebels are active.

National police operations director Gen. Orlando Paez says 17 police were riding in a truck when the bomb exploded Wednesday evening in the southern town of Doncello.

The attack happened not far from an area the size of Switzerland that the government ceded to leftist rebels from 1999-2002 following failed peace talks.

According to Colombia’s defense ministry, the armed conflict claimed the lives of 121 police and 175 soldiers in the first eight months of the year.

Elsewhere in the country, two mine blasts killed four soldiers and wounded six more.