2 Dead in rebel attack on Colombian town

Bogota, Agencias
Two people were killed and seven others wounded when leftist FARC guerrillas attacked a town in the southwestern Colombian province of Cauca, authorities said Thursday.

The assault on Toribio began at dusk Wednesday and went on for about three hours, Mayor Carlos Alberto Banguero told radio stations in Popayan, the provincial capital.

He identified the fatalities as a police officer and a civilian woman and said a 5-year-old girl was among those wounded.

Rebels perched on surrounding hills initiated the attack with a volley of makeshift shells - gas cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel - fired from mortars made of PVC piping.

Authorities attributed the coordinated strikes on Toribio and neighboring Jambalo to the 6th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the nation's largest guerrilla group.

The insurgents withdrew after the arrival of air force planes called in by police, according to the military.