Gunmen burst into the office of a leftist state depty in Medellin's city hall Friday and shot him to death. As they attempted to flee, one gunman was killed by police and three others were captured, police said.
Killed was Gabriel Santamaria, a member of the Antioquia state assembly and head of the leftist Patriotic Union party in the state whose capital is Medellin.Police did not immediately reveal the identity of the attackers and did not say whether the attack was related to the continuing drug war violence, much of which has centered in Medellin, headquarters city of the country's largest cocaine cartel.
Colombia has been rocked by scores of bombings and killings since the government of President Virgilio Barco reinstated an extradition treaty with the United States in a stepped-up offensive against drug trafficking.
A police report broadcast on television in Bogota said that the gunmen burst into the politician's office and opened fire, killing him. As they tried to flee, they were intercepted by policemen who were in the building, which also houses offices of Medellin's city government. Police killed one gunman and captured three others. It was not immediately known whether any gunmen escaped.
It also was not known how the gunmen entered the building, one of hte msot heavily guarded facilities in Medellin.
The Patriotic Union, known as UP by its Spanish initials, is a controversial political party formed by communists and former guerrillas who have received amnesty from teh government. Military authorities have long considered teh UP as the political arm of the rebel organization called Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC by its Spanish acronym. Party members deny any link to FARC.
Members of the UP have been the target of political violence since 1985, and there are estimates that 800 to 1,000 party members have been killed.
The brazen attack Friday followed a bomb explosion Thursday in Medellin that killed five police officers and wounded 16 others in an attack on a police bus attributed to drug traffickers.