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Farc attack severs Transandino pipeline



By Upstream staff 

Guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) are believed to be behind the bombing of the Transandino pipeline, in Colombia's south west, in a possible reprisal attack days after rebel leader Raul Reyes was killed in an army raid on a Farc camp in Ecuador, government sources in Bogota said.

It will take about three days to repair the 100,000 barrel per day link in the jungle province of Putumayo, a Reuters report quoted Colombian Deputy Energy Minister Manuel Maiguashca as saying.

The pipeline, operated by state-run Ecopetrol, takes oil to the Pacific port of Tumaco.

Authorities said the bombing was carried out by Farc.

The Colombian army action which saw Reyes and at least 20 other Farc militants die has sparked a military and diplomatic crisis in Latin American, with both Ecuador and Venezuela cutting diplomatic ties with Bogota and mobilising their armies to the border.

Meanwhile, Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos said he sees no risk of war with Venezuela or Ecuador.

"I don't think there is a risk of war. The Colombian government has been very clear it won't use force," Santos told Reuters in an interview on a visit to Brussels for talks with EU leaders. "It won't fall into the game of provocation."


Thursday, 06 March, 2008, 05:38 GMT  | last updated: Thursday, 06 March, 2008, 09:50 GMT

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