Hundreds of fighters from three rebel armies united to attack a village in western Colombia, officials said Sunday, offering new details in the bold assault that killed at least five police officers. At least six police officers were kidnapped, and at least 27 others were missing, possibly abducted as well. The pre-dawn assault Saturday in the village of San Marino reportedly included fighters from Colombia's second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army, which began exploratory peace talks with Colombia's government in Cuba on Friday. The attack was not expected to have a major effect on the talks, however, because a cease-fire was not a condition for the negotiations. The fighting appeared to signal a new tactic in which various guerrilla factions unite for an attack, said Gen. Alonso Arango, deputy chief of the National Police. The attack also involved the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the lesser known Revolutionary Army of Guevara, he said. It came despite the death of six FARC rebels in clashes with ELN earlier this week in another part of the country.
Saturday's attack started with some 500 rebels encircling San Marino, about 170 miles west of Bogota, said Gen. Alonso Arango, deputy chief of the National Police. Outgunned police battled the rebels as they entered the town, he told Caracol Radio. The fighting lasted about six hours before army reinforcements arrived in helicopters and the rebels retreated into the jungle, Arango said. Earlier reports indicated that dozens of rebels were involved, but Arango said there were probably about 500. "There was a huge concentration of rebels in this attack," he said.