REBEL ATTACK KILLS 10 COLOMBIAN TROOPS

BOGOTA, Colombia, Feb. 12 (AP) -- A mortar attack blamed on leftist rebels
killed 10 soldiers and wounded more than 30 on Monday at an army garrison
in southern Colombia, officials said.

The mortar round, a cooking gas canister packed with explosives and
shrapnel, was fired before dawn from a pickup truck 600 yards from the
garrison in the town of Pitalito, Gen. Gilberto Rocha said.

It landed on a barracks full of sleeping soldiers and started a fire that
detonated several hand grenades inside.

Gen. Arcesio Barrero, commander of the army's Fourth Division, said seven
soldiers were seriously wounded and another 25 suffered minor injuries.

General Barrero blamed the attack on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, the largest rebel group in the nation.

Hours after the attack, relatives of the wounded soldiers waited outside
the hospital in Pitalito, 235 miles southwest of Bogota, for word on their
injuries.

The hospital appealed for blood donations.

The attack on Monday marked the second time in two weeks that the army
suffered heavy losses.

On Jan. 29, 29 soldiers died as they tried to seize a munitions dump
controlled by rebels in southern Colombia.

The cache exploded, but it was unclear if the explosion was accidental or
set off by rebels.

Rebel attacks on civilian and military targets have escalated in recent
weeks despite a January agreement by FARC and the government to seek a
cease-fire by April.

The Bush administration has proposed expanding military assistance to this
South American country, which is already receiving military aid to attack
cocaine-producing crops controlled by the rebels and a rival paramilitary
group.