At Least 10 Killed, 20 Missing in Colombian Oil Town

At least 10 people were killed and 20 were feared dead after a suspected right-wing death squad swept through Colombia’s main oil town before dawn Sunday, authorities said.

The attack in Barrancabermeja, in northeastern Santander province, was the latest in a wave of violence that political analysts say is part of a paramilitary campaign to sow terror before May 31 presidential elections.

If the latest death toll is confirmed, it will bring to more than 80 the number of people slain by ultra-right death squads across the country in the last month.

“There are 30 people either confirmed dead or reported disappeared,” said Elkin Bueno, mayor of Barrancabermeja.

“We fear all those people are dead. . . . We presume it was a [right-wing] paramilitary gang,” he said before going into an emergency security council meeting.

President Ernesto Samper condemned the mass slayings, but so far security forces have proved unable to fulfill the promise he made late last year to chase paramilitary gangs “to hell and back” in a bid to wipe them out.

Provincial police chief Gen. Tobias Duran Quintanilla said 10 men, ages 20 to 25, were so far confirmed dead and at least 20 were missing after the raid.

He told local media about 50 hooded gunmen arrived in two trucks and began calling out the names of victims from a list--one of the hallmarks of paramilitary attacks.