Nine peasant farmers decapitated in massacre

The headless bodies of at least nine Colombian peasant farmers have been found in a lush mountainous region in the country’s northeast, authorities said today.

Police were investigating villagers’ reports that the bodies accounted for some of at least 11 people who were murdered over the week near Tierralta, a small town 280 miles northeast of the Colombian capital, Bogota.

At least 20 other people were kidnapped, villagers said.

Police said no one has claimed responsibility for the murders and kidnappings, which occurred in a region overrun by left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries.

The paramilitaries are believed to be responsible for more than 70% of the massacres committed in Colombia over the last five years.

Juan Nerio, a doctor at the local hospital, said six of the decapitated bodies were brought down from the area Sunday and buried immediately.