FARC rebels strike Colombian town, kill two

Suspected members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) killed a child and a policeman and injured 27 in an apparent attack on civilians in Miraflores in the southern department of Guaviare on 11 February, RCN La Radio reported. The mayor of Miraflores told RCN radio that suspected guerrillas began shooting and throwing grenades at a crowd putting out a fire in two buildings in the town; soldiers and policemen repelled the attack. Nine of the worst injured were taken to hospital in the departmental capital San José del Guaviare. President Juan Manuel Santos urged the armed  forces on 11 February to "persevere" with their defensive task until peace is attained in Colombia "one way or another," observing that "peace is the victory." He was speaking to troops at an air force base in Tolemaida south-west of Bogotá, where the armed forces took possession of six new helicopters and two planes. Santos said FARC attacks had not increased in Colombia this year but were receiving more attention. The FARC he said had reached "their maximum capacity, even the number of our fallen soldiers and policemen has decreased, but there has been more noise about this in the media," the presidential website reported. The number of FARC guerrillas demobilized increased 60 per cent in 2013 he said, compared to a similar but unspecified period in 2012. "They see less and less future [for themselves] and feel more defeated," Santos said. FARC and government negotiators were to renew peace talks in Havana on 18 February, continuing the present theme of discussions, rural land use and tenure, Colombia's public radio reported on 11 February.