World Dec. 24, 2008 - 03:29AM JST ( 0 )

BOGOTA —

Colombian FARC rebels Tuesday admitted they killed two civilian medical workers on Dec 7 by setting off a bomb near their vehicle in southern Colombia, according to a statement.

“The Southern Bloc of FARC regrets the accident” that killed workers from the medical aid group ICBF, the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said in a statement released on its website.

The guerrilla group, whose announcement marked an unusual recognition of its activities in the country’s southern jungles, said the attackers had mistakenly believed the vehicle belonged to a Colombian army anti-kidnapping unit.

The explosion, which occurred south of Bogota near San Vicente de Caguan, also wounded three members of the medical mission which included personnel from a nearby hospital.

FARC said it offered its “deepest condolences to all the relatives of those killed, wishing the wounded a speedy recovery.”

In early December eight Colombian police were killed in a suspected FARC attack in the country’s north when a bomb exploded as the police passed by on a patrol.

FARC, Latin America’s oldest and most powerful rebel group, has been trying to topple the Bogota government since the 1960s. Colombia’s Defense Ministry says the rebels have some 7,000 members.

Wire reports