Colombia probes 1998 bombing deaths

Colombia's attorney-general has said he is investigating the possibility that the country's armed forces were involved in a bombing that killed seventeen people two years ago.

Senior military officials have long maintained that the deadly explosion in the village of Santo Domingo , in Arauca, in the north-east of the country was caused by a truck bomb detonated by left-wing rebels.

But the attorney-general, Jaime Bernal Cuellar, said he was examining allegations that the explosion was instead caused by a US-supplied cluster bomb, dropped from a Colombian air force helicopter. Four members of the armed forces face possible charges over the case. Correspondents say if the air force dropped the bomb, it will fuel fresh controversy over the massive package of US aid to help the Colombian military tackle the illegal drugs trade.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service