Gunmen Kill 33 Revelers at Street Party in Colombia

Gunmen believed to be leftist rebels fired automatic weapons at revelers at an early morning street party Sunday, killing at least 33 people and wounding eight, authorities said.

The massacre in Apartado, a poverty-stricken town of wood-plank shacks and cement storefronts 300 miles northwest of Bogota, was the bloodiest in Colombia in more than five years. It was unclear if the attack was politically motivated.

Authorities interviewed on local radio said 35 people were killed. But morgue officials said they counted the bodies of 32 men and one woman.

Residents of Apartado denied earlier reports that the massacre occurred at the site of a political rally.

They said the rally of the Hope, Peace and Freedom Party, formed by former guerrillas, was held at a school half a mile away. They said gunmen attacked a street party held to raise money to send children to school.