At Least 24 in Colombia Massacred

Right-wing paramilitary fighters pulled unarmed people off buses and out of their homes in this southern village, killing at least 24 men after accusing them of aiding leftist rebels, authorities said Thursday.

The massacre was one of several attacks in the country in a week, most blamed on the outlawed paramilitary forces, known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.

The bloodshed has claimed at least 49 lives, including four soldiers and a mayor. Twelve people are missing and feared dead.

Despite President Andres Pastrana’s efforts to end to the 37-year civil war, the violence has been escalating.

In Buga, a village 160 miles southwest of Bogota where the 24 men were found dead, authorities were searching for six others who were missing.

“They took the people out of two buses and from their homes,” Mayor John Jairo Bohorquez told Caracol radio. “They separated the women, old people and children and then killed the men.”