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Colombia murders at 20-year low (BBC, 1/03/07)

Colombian police say the murder rate in the South American nation has fallen to its lowest level in two decades.

Police chief Gen Jorge Daniel Castro said that a total of 17,206 people suffered violent deaths in 2006, 517 fewer than in 2005.

Kidnappings also fell from 329 in 2005 to 200 in 2006, he said.

Colombia continues to have one of the highest murder rates in the world, but observers say security has been gradually improving in recent years.

The president, Alvaro Uribe, has worked to tackle violence linked to both right-wing paramilitary and left-wing rebel groups, and to the illegal drugs trade.