Federal Judge, Congressman Slain in Colombia

Assailants fatally shot a federal judge in Medellin and a congressman in this capital city Wednesday night. It was the latest violence to strike Colombia since the government declared war in August on drug traffickers.

Gunmen in two cars killed Judge Mariela Espinoza in the second assassination of a justice official since a colleague was slain Oct. 17 in Medellin, the hub of the most powerful drug cartel in Colombia.

Meanwhile, at about the same time, Congressman Manuel Francisco Madero was shot as he arrived home Wednesday night in Bogota, a national police spokeswoman said.

Madero, 60, died minutes later at a nearby hospital, the spokeswoman said. No other details were immediately available.

Espinoza was assassinated while driving a car near her home in western Medellin, a city of 2 million about 150 miles north of Bogota, police said. She was accompanied by two police bodyguards on motorcycles at the time of the shooting, and one of the police officers was wounded, the Colombian radio chain Caracol said in a report from the scene.

No one claimed responsibility for the killing, police said.