[OG, sarcastically: Well, I guess the IRA instructors weren't that good.]

Ananova :

Explosions leave 16 Colombians dead

An explosion has killed at least 15 suspected members of the rebel National Liberation Army in Colombia when explosives they were transporting in a truck went off.

Meanwhile, in Antioquia state, a car bomb, allegedly set off by members of the same guerrilla force, killed one and injured more than 20.

The deaths come two weeks after President Andres Pastrana decided to break off peace talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN.

The 5,000-strong ELN, inspired by the Cuban Revolution, responded to Mr Pastrana's decision by blocking roads and rivers in the northeast of the country with cars and trucks loaded with explosives.

Army General Martin Carreno said between 15 and 20 apparent rebels died on the road between the towns of Malaga and San Andres, 175 miles northeast of Bogota.

The rebels were laying bombs along the highway when the explosion occurred, Gen Carreno said.

The car bomb went off in Marinilla, Antioquia. The 175lbs of explosives destroyed several buildings, including the police station, a girl's high school, the office of the transit secretary and a funeral home, according to the town's police chief Colonel Jose Manuel Sanchez.

Colombia's 37-year civil war pits leftist guerrilla groups like the ELN and the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) against government troops and illegal right-wing paramilitaries.

Story filed: 01:08 Friday 24th August 2001

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001