COLOMBIA VIOLENCE PERSISTS

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Leftist rebels abducted at least 30 civilians in
northwestern Colombia overnight after a shootout with government
troops, a local official said Sunday.

About 200 rebels belonging to the National Liberation Army, or ELN,
abducted the victims at a roadblock in Antioquia province, a
provincial government official said.

Meanwhile, rebels from the Popular Liberation Army, or EPL, freed Jose
de Jesus Quintero, a Roman Catholic bishop they had kidnapped a month
ago, but demanded that he leave the war-torn northern Colombian region
where he worked.

In a separate development, two assassins shot and killed Marco
Londono, the mayor of Vistahermosa, the town in southern Colombia
where guerrilla and government negotiators have been meeting to try to
end the country's civil war, police said.