Colombian President Escapes Unscathed from Rebel Attack

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, August 18, 2003

Colombian President Escapes Unscathed from Rebel Attack

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe escaped Sunday an attack carried out by suspected rebels at a village in northeast Colombia, the president's spokesman said.

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Colombian President Alvaro Uribe escaped Sunday an attack carried out by suspected rebels at a village in northeast Colombia, the president's spokesman said.

The president's helicopter was shot at by machine guns when it arrived at the village of Granada in Antioquia state and the helicopter, with the president and his wife aboard, turned immediately back to the town of Rionegro, spokesman Ricardo Galan said.

According to the spokesman, no one was injured and the president returned to his scheduled destination after security in the area was under control.

The president attended an event to mark the reconstruction of the village, which was devastated by rebels in December 2002.

Colombian authorities held rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) accountable for this attack. The guerrilla group is also blamed for several previous attempts to kill the president.

The 17,000-strong FARC is the largest rebel group in Colombia, which has been ravaged by a four-decade-long civil war, and an average of 3,500 people, most of them civilians, are killed every year in the conflict.

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