Annular Broach Cutter

Failed FARC attack against a military plane in Colombia

Sunday December 30, 2007 15:00 GYT

BOGOTA (Reuters ) - Suspected leftist rebels on Sunday fired a rocket at a military plane at an airport in the Colombian city of Neiva, unable to hit the aircraft, a week after a failed similar attack on the mayor of the city, said the Air Force.

The C-130 Hercules aircraft from the Colombian Air Force, with more than 50 soldiers on board between crew and passengers, the airport runway taxi Benito Salas when from a lot near the rocket fire and heard a huge explosion.

"A Hercules aircraft, which carried out the itinerary Bogota-Neiva Puerto Leguizamo, was fired a rocket (rocket), we are stating what kind of rocket, "he told reporters the commander of the Colombian Air Force, Gen. Jorge Ballesteros.

" hit the ramp (of track), about 50 or 60 meters from the aircraft, no damage or injured , "he said.

Military officials and police blamed the failed attack on the plane to the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

The attempted bombing occurred at a time when it is expected that the rebel group to surrender an international mission, led by Venezuela, which are still holding three hostages.

Neiva, capital of Huila department, is located 250 kilometers southwest Bogotá, and has witnessed in recent years a number of guerrilla attacks, including last week when the Mayor Cielo Gonzalez was not injured in an attack by a rocket fired at the convoy in which they moved.

In March, the FARC detonated a car packed with explosives which were out to kill Gonzalez, while a second pump installed in a sewer exploded two days after killing four policemen and a civilian.

In 2001, FARC rebels entered an apartment and kidnapped several people, including his wife and two children of a senator.

then in February 2003, blew up a house full of explosives near the same airport, in an attack intended attempt against President Alvaro Uribe, which left 15 dead and 30 wounded.

Uribe, who took office in August 2002 and was reelected for a second term until 2010, leading an aggressive military campaign that forced the guerrillas to a strategic withdrawal and has included the increase in military spending and the number of Armed Forces personnel.

(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Edited by Ines Guzman)