World IN BRIEF : COLOMBIA : 31 Soldiers Killed in Guerrilla Ambush

Colombia put its army on maximum alert after a rebel ambush of a military convoy killed 31 soldiers and wounded 18 near the border with Ecuador. Three rebels also were killed. The attack--described as one of the bloodiest in the country’s long-running guerrilla war--occurred in a remote area of Narino province, about 310 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota, in an area where the army was deployed to guard against attacks on an oil pipeline. About 150 rebels exploded dynamite on the road as the six-vehicle convoy passed by, then opened fire with machine guns and grenades before fleeing into the surrounding jungle, the military said. Defense Minister Juan Carlos Esguerra said that soldiers throughout the country were placed on maximum alert, and the army was considering calling up reservists to fight the rebels.