BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- War-ravaged Colombia is shaken by an average
                  of 71 violent deaths and four "terrorist" attacks a day as its four-decade internal
                  conflict intensifies, according to an official report on criminal activity in 2000.

                  The police study said 25,660 people died violent deaths this year -- a five percent
                  rise on the 1999 tally of 24,358.

                  There were 205 mass killings -- a 22 percent
                  increase over 1999 -- in which 1,226 people died.
                  The number of victims was almost a third higher
                  than last year.

                  The report, released late on Thursday, indicates
                  2000 was one of the most violent years ever, with
                  1,480 "terrorist" attacks -- an average of four a
                  day, a 24 percent rise over 1999. Most of the
                  killings were committed by leftist rebels using
                  explosives, police said.

                  "The rise in murders, killings and terrorist attacks
                  is largely due to the intensification of the internal
                  conflict in the country in which there are various
                  protagonists," Gen. Alfredo Salgado, deputy
                  director of police, told reporters.

                  This Andean nation of 40 million has been riven
                  by nearly 40 years of strife -- the longest conflict
                  in Latin America -- involving leftist guerrillas,
                  far-right paramilitary death squads and the army,
                  which critics accuse of being linked to
                  paramilitaries or turning a blind eye to their activities.

                  The conflict has turned this oil, coffee and coal-producing nation into one of the
                  most violent in the world.

                  The report did not say how many of the 25,660 violent deaths registered in 2000
                  were directly caused by the conflict. Most homicides in Colombia have no direct
                  link and are the result of street attacks and fights, the authorities say.

                  Colombia's conflict has intensified despite President Andres Pastrana's
                  land-for-peace policy with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
                  (FARC), the country's biggest guerrilla group, and the National Liberation Army
                  (ELN).

                  In 2000, the report said there were 83 attacks on towns and villages, most
                  carried out with home-made missiles -- gas cylinders packed with explosives --
                  in which more than 1,000 buildings were destroyed.

                  The report attributed 70 of those attacks to the FARC, nine to the ELN and four
                  to paramilitary gangs.

                  The report did not include a figure for kidnappings -- Colombia has the dubious
                  honor of being the world kidnapping capital -- but police said there had been a
                  significant increase during the year.

                  According to the independent Pais Libre group, which monitors kidnapping,
                  there were 3,029 kidnappings in the year to November, 84 more than in the
                  whole of 1999, when the total was 2,945.

                  The authorities laid the blame for more than half of the kidnappings at the doors
                  of the guerrillas, whom analysts say use the tactic to finance their uprising
                  against the state.

                  On a slightly brighter note, the report said 5,036 people were killed on
                  Colombia's roads -- down 11 percent from 1999.

                      Copyright 2000 Reuters.