Collar bomb

Colombia's Marxist guerrillas rigged a bomb around the neck of a woman who rebelled against their systematic campaign of extortion, killing her and a policeman hours later when the bomb exploded as he struggled to prise the collar loose. Three security force members were maimed by the blast.

Police and army spokesmen said the bomb marked an unprecedented act of terror in a conflict that has claimed more than 35,000 lives in the last decade.

They said rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) used a silicone adhesive to glue the collar bomb around the neck of Elvira Cortes Gil, 52, after breaking into her home in Boyaca province on Monday. The pressure-release device exploded more than six hours later as police and an army bomb squad struggled to disarm it.

President Andres Pastrana yesterday reacted to the atrocity by suspending the next round of the peace process, planned for the end of May. It is the first time in the 18-month peace process that the government has called off talks with Farc.

The army said Cortes Gil, a dairy farmer, was singled out for the "atrocious experiment" because she had recently stopped paying extortion money. Farc recently threatened to "tax" individuals and companies worth more than $1m (£625,000).

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