Colombian leader warns of attacks

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombian rebels are planning devastating attacks with sophisticated weapons, President Alvaro Uribe's administration told the nation's highest court in justifying his assumption of special powers.

The rebels showed they have advanced beyond rudimentary homemade explosives when they fired mortars from a distance of 1.2 miles at Uribe's Aug. 7 inauguration, damaging the presidential palace and killing 21 people.

But the leftist insurgents -- who have allegedly received explosives training from Irish Republican Army members -- have even bloodier attacks in store, Uribe's office told the Constitutional Court Thursday night in a written message.

The rebels are planning "to attack the government, to destroy whole populations and to definitively ruin the country" with sophisticated weapons, the presidency said, citing classified intelligence reports.

Uribe's office sent the message to the court to justify his assumption on Aug. 12 of special powers under a "state of unrest." The decree allowed Uribe to impose a 1.2 percent war tax on Colombians with more than $60,000 in assets and to beef up the army and police.

The court can revoke the state of unrest if it feels it is unjustified, and is expected to make a ruling within a month.