A paramilitary leader in Colombia who is the prime suspect in the power-saw murders of 40 farmers has been captured, an official in the federal prosecutor's office said Thursday. Elkin Casarrubio, known as "The Priest", was captured by judiciary police along with two other members of the paramilitary force, the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), in the city of Medellin. He is accused of leading the power-saw massacre in April 2001 in Alto Naya in southwestern Colombia. The AUC killed the 40 indigenous farmers who lived in Alto Naya, accusing them of being sympathizers of the leftist guerilla National Liberation Army (ELN). Another 1,200 villagers fled. Pregnant women were among the victims of the massacre, in which the paramilitaries dragged the Indians out of their homes and then hacked them to death with power saws and knives. --More 0007 Local Time 2107 GMT
