Curfew Declared in Parts of Colombia as Fighting Rages

BOGOTA, Colombia — The Colombian government Saturday declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew for travel across more than 30% of the country, including the outskirts of Bogota, in an effort to contain a nationwide Marxist rebel offensive in which more than 70 fatalities have been reported.

Interior Minister Nestor Humberto Martinez made the announcement--containing some of the most stringent emergency measures in recent memory--as guerrillas attacked security forces, raided 15 towns and bombed energy infrastructure across the country.

An army spokesman said at least 64 guerrillas, six civilians and three police officers had been killed in 24 hours of fighting that was still raging in an eastern jungle region after nightfall.

Authorities said the rebels were preparing to storm regional capitals and could even try to stage a fresh strike on the national capital, Bogota, a city of 7 million people.

Military leaders, however, sought to allay panic and said there was no risk that Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels were about to seize power by force.

Political analysts described the surge in violence as a rebel tactic to jockey for position at peace talks, which resume later this month. The negotiations, aimed at ending the long-running war that has claimed more than 35,000 lives in 10 years, have been going ahead without a prior cease-fire deal.

Leaders of FARC have said they would try to seize power by force and set up a socialist government if they did not win all their demands.

The curfew order was clamped on all travel between nightfall and sunrise for an indefinite period in 10 of Colombia’s 32 provinces in the east and south and 10 towns on the southern and eastern edge of Bogota. People were still allowed to move freely around towns and villages.