Gunmen Slay Colombia Judge

A Supreme Court judge involved in extraditing drug traffickers was assassinated today by two gunmen on a motorcycle who also killed two other people and wounded the judge’s wife.

Justice Hernando Baquero Borda, who survived the guerrilla assault on the Palace of Justice last year when 123 people were killed, died instantly in the back seat of his car, authorities said.

A witness said that the suspects carrying machine guns had waited at a corner for Baquero Borda’s heavily guarded car and began firing at 8:20 a.m.

The gunfire also killed a police officer and another person and wounded Baquero Borda’s wife, his chauffeur and a police guard.

Baquero Borda was handling requests from the United States for extradition of Colombians accused of international drug trafficking. Drug traffickers had threatened to kill judges who approved such extraditions.

Baquero Borda’s wife, Susana San Pedro de Baquero, who was shot in the arm, was “out of danger,” authorities said.