Bogota - A Mexican woman who was fighting with Colombian rebels Tuesday described Colombia's attack on the rebel camp in Ecuador that killed the insurgent group's number two and triggered rising tensions in the region. "I was asleep, and suddenly I was woken up by a bombing, many bombs. We could hear planes and helicopters that started to hurl bombs at where we were, and then there was a strong burning smell," Lucrecia Arboleda told Colombia's Caracol television channel from a hospital in Quito.
The woman, a Mexican citizen fighting for the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) under the alias "Lucia," said the attack by Colombian forces on Ecuadorian soil started shortly after midnight Saturday, while the rebels were asleep.
"I started to feel that (the bombs) fell very close to where I was, and then heard shooting. After a while we could hear shouting," the rebel said.
"Lucia" said the bombing was renewed some three hours later.
"I did not move from there because I realized that I was injured, I could not move. I just dragged myself aside a little bit," she said.
The woman was rescued from the site by Ecuadorian authorities, along with two other injured Colombian female rebels.
The attack killed rebel second in command Raul Reyes and 20 other rebels.
