Staff Writer With AFP

Colombia freezes peace talks with ELN rebels after attacks

BOGOTA, Jan 29, 2018 (AFP) – Colombia’s president on Monday froze peace negotiations with the ELN rebel group after weekend bomb attacks blamed on the guerrillas killed seven police officers. The developments threw into peril efforts to definitively end Colombia’s half century of conflict that recently had looked close to resolution. “I have taken the decision to suspend the start of the fifth cycle of negotiations that were scheduled for the coming days, given that ELN is not matching its words with actions,” President Juan Manuel Santos said in an address. Santos’ government reached a historic peace agreement with the biggest rebel group, the FARC, in November 2016, but a similar deal with the smaller ELN has still not been reached. When a ceasefire with the ELN expired on January 10, the government said it was suspending talks with the rebel group, which returned to targeting security forces and oil installations. Over the weekend, three bombs went off at police stations in three locations: two in the Caribbean port city of Barranquilla and one in Santa Rosa, in the department of Bolivar. The ELN claimed responsibility for the worst of the attacks, which killed five officers and wounded 41 in …