Seventh candidate for mayor slain

? Gunmen shot and killed a mayoral contender in a central Colombian town, the 16th candidate to be killed in the run-up to state and municipal elections, police said Saturday.

Jorge Roa of the Conservative Party was attacked Friday while driving in a rural area outside the town of Chivor in Boyaca state, apparently campaigning for the election, police Col. Alvaro Miranda told The Associated Press.

Roa was the seventh mayoral candidate in the election campaign to be assassinated. Eight others running for city council seats and one running for governor also have been killed.

Authorities blame the country’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, for most of the attacks in the campaign.

Elections for city and regional offices will be Oct. 26.