4 police die disarming bomb in Colombia

Four police officers and a civilian were killed Saturday as officers moved a powerful bomb allegedly planted by leftist rebels as part of an attempt to kill a city mayor, authorities said.

Police officers found the explosive before dawn Saturday, hidden in a water meter in front of the radio station where a car bomb on Thursday nearly claimed the life of the pro-government mayor of Neiva, Cielo Gonzalez.

Police removed the bomb and were transporting it in a police vehicle when it exploded in downtown Neiva, killing four officers, Gen. Jorge Castro, chief of Colombia's police, told Caracol Radio. Among the dead was Capt. Carlos Cardona, local head of the Sijin police intelligence unit.

A woman inside her home near the explosion was also killed.

Castro said that the device was part of Thursday's failed attack against Gonzalez by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Latin America's oldest and most potent leftist insurgency.

He said police were searching for a possible third device that may have been left by the rebels in Neiva, 150 miles southwest of Bogota.

"We're doing a through sweep, not stopping our work until we've searched every site," said Castro.

Thursday's blast occurred as police were towing a car loaded with explosives that had been parked in front of the HJKK radio station, where Gonzalez was giving a regular weekly interview. Eight people were injured during the attack, two of them seriously, and a bus and several cars were also destroyed.

Neiva has long been engulfed by violence because of its location in the heart of Colombia's impoverished south _ a major FARC stronghold. Gonzalez has been the target of at least two other assassination attempts since 2003.

Gonzalez said she would reinforce her security and stay in Neiva, despite an offer from Uribe to relocate her office to Bogota.

Authorities have offered a reward of about $435,000 for information leading to the perpetrators of the attack, which may have been in retaliation for a tough new government stance against the rebels.

On a visit Tuesday to the state of Huila, whose capital is Neiva, President Alvaro Uribe ruled out amnesty for leftist rebels under an eventual peace deal, reversing a long-standing blueprint for ending Colombia's five-decade civil conflict.

The 15,000-member FARC had demanded amnesty during three years of failed negotiations with the administration of Uribe's predecessor.