3 army colonels fired in Colombia for killings

Posted on Friday, 10.24.08
3 army colonels fired in Colombia for killings
By FRANK BAJAK
Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia's army chief fired three colonels on Friday in the case of 11 men who disappeared from a Bogota suburb and were found dead months later in a war zone hundreds of miles away.

It remains unclear why the men disappeared from Soacha, a poor district just south of the capital, though speculation has been rife that they may have fallen victim to so-called extrajudicial executions.

Human rights groups allege that members of Colombia's military have killed civilians and presented them as rebels slain in combat.

Last month, The Associated Press obtained a report from the chief prosecutor's office that said 803 members of Colombia's armed forces - including 99 officers - were under investigation in such killings.

After the Soacha men's bodies were discovered in August and September in a turbulent zone near the Venezuelan border, the local military commander said nine had been killed in combat with leftist rebels of the National Liberation Army, or ELN.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/AP/story/740269.html