ELN Rebels Claim Colombia Pipeline Attack that Wounded 13
Colombia's second largest guerrilla group, the ELN, claimed responsibility for a weekend attack on an oil pipeline that left 13 people wounded, just weeks after launching peace talks with the government.
The National Liberation Army, which last month announced it would take part in the peace process, launched home-made explosives Sunday targeting a facility along the 780-kilometer (485-mile) Cano Limon-Covenas oil pipeline, one of the country's main oil conduits.
The attack, ELN said in a June 30 statement released Thursday by the office of the national ombudsman, the Defensoria del Pueblo, "was carried out by day and slipped past the most sophisticated modernization."
The 13 victims, who have all been declared out of danger, were participating in a religious ceremony at the facility in the province of Arauca, an ELN stronghold.
The ELN, with its 2,000 or so combatants, is Colombia's second-largest rebel group after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which has between 7,000 and 8,000 fighters.
FARC has been engaged in peace talks with the government since November 2012.
Source: Agence France Presse
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