Leftist rebels kidnapped 15 people and then killed six policemen and a soldierwho tried to rescue them, the police said today.
The civilians were kidnapped at a roadblock in Caldasprovince in rural northwest Colombia yesterday.
The militaryeventually freed the civilians during a rescue attempt laterthe same day, but they failed to capture or kill any of theMarxist guerrillas, a police commander said.
"The police immediately started pursuing the criminals.Unfortunately, in a forested area, an ambush took place,resulting in the deaths of a lieutenant, five other policeofficers and a soldier," Colonel Rodolfo Palomino told reporters.
The guerrillas were from the Revolutionary Armed Forces ofColombia, a 17,000-strong group known by the Spanish initialsFARC, he said.
The FARC and other rebels kidnap thousands of people a yearto help pay for their 39-year-old war for a socialist state.
