Twelve Colombian soldiers were killed in an alleged ambush by leftist rebels Monday near the Venezuelan border, dpa reported. The attack took place in the village of Majayura, in the province of La Guajira, and was blamed on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The Colombian radio network Caracol, citing military authorities, reported that a sergeant, a second lieutenant and 10 soldiers were killed in the attack, which La Guajira Governor Juan Francisco Gomez called "a cowardly ambush." In a separate incident, FARC allegedly wounded five police officers who were on patrol in the town of Teorama, in the province of Norte de Santander. FARC has been fighting the Colombian central government for more than four decades. While the leftist group has been significantly weakened in recent years, it continues to have a presence, particularly in the Andean country's more remote regions.
