Thousands flee Colombian war zone

FARC says the church attack was an accident

The Colombian authorities say thousands of people have fled from a remote jungle region in the north-west where more than 100 people died in fighting between leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries.

I feel as if my heart has stopped, as if it were heavy, black

Oscar Guzman
Church survivor

About 5,000 people have streamed into the town of Quibdo, capital of Choco state, including survivors of an incident in the isolated fishing village of Bojaya on the Atrato River.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has admitted dropping a home-made mortar bomb on a church there which killed up to 117 civilians but said the attack was accidental.

Government forces, who launched an offensive to retake the area last week, reported scenes of horror when they finally entered Bojaya in force on Wednesday.

A local maths teacher, Oscar Guzman, said he had not been able to eat or sleep since witnessing the carnage in the church.

"I feel as if my heart has stopped," he said. "As if it were heavy, black."

Father Antun Ramos, the village priest, said people had fled to the church because they had assumed it would be respected a place of sanctuary - and also because it was one of the few buildings with concrete walls in Bojaya.

Tangled web

Before the arrival of the army, Bojaya had long been beyond the control of the state, fought over by rebels and right-wing paramilitaries seeking control of the lucrative arms and drugs smuggling route offered by the Atrato.

"There was never any intention on our part to harm the community," the FARC said in a statement on the attack, believed to be the deadliest single incident in the country's 38-year-old civil war.

The government is accused of letting FARC run free

Colombian President Andres Pastrana has asked the United Nations to investigate the killings which have also been condemned by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

The FARC has been battling paramilitaries from the United Colombian Self-defense Forces (AUC) in the area since it seized control in March 2000.

On 1 May, the FARC attacked a boat carrying AUC fighters, triggering fierce clashes between the two sides.

The church was hit as AUC fighters reportedly took up positions in the village.

But the BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Medellin says the government itself is under criticism for abandoning Bojaya two years ago and later for ignoring warnings that the community was in grave danger.

The AUC is also believed to have had the tacit support of the Colombian armed forces.

Last week, the United States said the Colombian army had severed links with the AUC, making it eligible for $1.7bn of aid.