(28 May 1996) Natural Sound
Colombia's oldest leftist rebel group has celebrated its 32nd anniversary with a wave of violence across the country.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC., killed a security guard and wounded three civilians in a mortar attack on an army base in Medellin, Colombia's second city.
Thirty-one soldiers were killed when the FARC attacked an army convoy in the southwest department of El Cauca last month.
It was one of the bloodiest acts in the rebel group's long war with the government.
The oldest guerrilla in Colombia, the FARC is commemorating its 32 years as an armed rebel group.
To mark the anniversary, the rebels launched three attacks Monday in different parts of the country killing one person and wounding six others.
Guerrillas exert control over vast areas of rural Colombia and have often targeted installations owned by the state.
Although their main enemies are the government and the army, their victims are usually civilians caught up in the crossfire.
This was what happened in this attack last year in Miraflores, also in El Cauca department, where at least 12 police officers, 20 civilians and 23 rebels died.
Some other rebel groups have laid down their arms in recent years but thousands vow to continue fighting for Colombia's poor.
But the government claims the rebels are criminals motivated by the profits from kidnapping and extortion, rather than political ideals.
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