Suspected rebels kill 10 Colombian police officers in ambush

Suspected rebels killed 10 police officers driving down a remote highway Thursday, ambushing their truck with gunfire and homemade gas cylinder bombs, a government official said.

The vehicle was traveling on a narrow road in the mountains outside of La Cruz, 470 kilometers (290 miles) southwest of Bogota, when it was attacked at about midday, said Fabio Trujillo, lieutenant governor of Narino state. There were no survivors, he said.

Colombia's two main rebel groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, and the National Liberation Army, ELN, operate in this region near Ecuador, and Trujillo said one of these groups was likely responsible for the attack.

Among the dead were a police captain and a sergeant, he said.

More than 300 members of Colombia's armed forces have been killed by rebels this year, many of them in hit-and-run ambush attacks similar to Thursday's attack.

The FARC and the ELN began their armed insurgency more than four decades ago with the aim of overthrowing the government and installing a socialist-style rule. But the groups have since become involved in drug trafficking and kidnapping for ransom and both are on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations, AP reported.