WORLD : Colombian Police Guards Repulse Attack on Federal Judge’s Home

Gunmen attacked a judge’s home in the cocaine center of Medellin, but police guards drove them off, authorities said today. Troops found caches of grenades and assault rifles near Bogota.

One policeman was wounded in the assault Tuesday night on the house of federal Judge Laurentino Gallego Gil, a Medellin police spokesman said. The source said two police guards repulsed the attack.

The assault followed the deployment of more than 500 soldiers and police Tuesday in Antioquia state, of which Medellin is the capital. They will bolster the more than 4,000 security force members already in the northwest region, where drug gangs stage daily bombings, shootings and arson attacks.

Hundreds of mourners on Tuesday attended the funeral of former Medellin Mayor Pablo Pelaez Gonzalez, who tried to rid the city of drug traffickers. Pelaez was assassinated on his way to work Monday.