GUNMEN LEAVE 13 DEAD

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Suspected right-wing gunmen shot and killed at least 13
villagers Tuesday, dumping their bodies along a highway, police said.

A 13-year-old girl was among the dead in the early-morning attack in
Zambrano, 335 miles north of Bogota.

Based on witness accounts, the assassins were probably members of a
paramilitary group, said State police chief Col. Francisco Bermudez.

"They left the bodies all along the highway," he said by telephone, without
providing further details.

Violence by the rightist militias and leftist rebels has raged unabated
this year, despite the launching of peace talks in January to end
Colombia's 35-year conflict. The majority of violent civilian deaths are at
the hands of the rightist militias, who kill suspected leftist sympathizers
and are financed by drug traffickers and wealthy landowners.