Incident Summary:
05/22/2011: On Sunday, a few miles from the location of a previous attack against a policeman in Bete at Medio Atrato, Chocó, Colombia, militants from the 34th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), shot three students from Technological University of Chocó (UTCH) and injured two civilians, who were traveling in three motor boats on the Atrato River from Bellavista. The rebels opened fire after the captain of the boat refused a rebel command to stop. Following the armed assault, FARC rebels held over 200 civilians passengers hostage, using them as human shields while trying to escape military forces. Two days later on 05/24/2011 on Tuesday night, Colombian military troops successfully rescued all the hostages. No group claimed responsibility; however, authorities attributed the attack to the FARC’s 34th Front.
Overview
GTD ID:
201105220006
When:
2011-05-22
Country:
Colombia
Region:
South America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Choco
City:
Medio Atrato
Location Details:
The attack took place on the Atrato River, in Medio Atrato, Chocó, Colombia.
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Armed Assault |
Type of Attack () |
Hostage Taking (Kidnapping) |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Maritime |
Name of Entity |
|
Specific Description |
Three boats carrying civilians, many who were students from Technological University of Chocó, |
Nationality of Target |
Colombia |
Additional Information
Hostages |
Yes |
Number of Hostages |
200 |
US Hostages |
0 |
Days of Kidnapping |
2 |
Outcome |
Successful Rescue |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Unknown |
Extent of Property Damage |
Unknown |
Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Firearms |
Unknown Gun Type |
Weapon Details |
Unknown firearms were used in the attack. |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | Yes |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
Unknown |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
3 Fatalities / 2 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
3 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
2 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
Colombia Reports, Adriaan Alsema, "Four Killed in West Colombia FARC Attacks," http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16438-west-colombia-farc-attacks-kill-4.html (May 23, 2011). |
El Tiempo, "FARC Kills Three Civilians and Use 200 of Them as Human Shields in Chocó," Agence France Presse, May 23, 2011, http://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/ARTICULO-WEB-NEW_NOTA_INTERIOR-9428904.html. |
Colombia Reports, Marguerite Cawley, "Colombian Authorities Rescue Choco FARC Hostages," http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16504-colombian-authorities-rescue-choco-farc-hostages.html (May 25, 2011). |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties