EL PERIODICO (Spain), NOTICIAS CARACOL (Colombia)
BOGOTA – Colombian police say they have evidence FARC rebels are using teenagers as suicide bombers, reports El Periodico.
In a video shot by Colombian police and showed by television station Noticias Caracol, we see an alleged 14-year-old rebel, “loaded with explosives, half-naked and painted green.” She was wounded by police during combat in northeastern Colombia, reports El Periodico.
The video also shows a 17-year-old boy, also painted green, who allegedly killed himself while detonating explosives against Colombian security forces, killing seven policemen. Colonel Eliecer Camacho, police commander for the North Santander region told Noticias Caracol that the teenage rebels were trained for about eight months in rural areas, where the “undergo hard, inhuman training.” Part of their training is to walk barefoot or to go without food and water.
Carlos Jose Duarte, a police officer who was a prisoner of the FARC leftists for 13 years, told Noticias Caracol that he never saw children rebels during his time in captivity.
