A bomb attack on the 780-km, 210,000 bpd Cano Limon Covenas oil pipeline in Columbia has forced Ecopetrol SA, the state - run oil company, to suspend operations.

The pipeline has been a target some 60 times this year by the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country’s sole remaining active guerrilla group, and ELN is suspected of this most recent sabotage as well.

“The incident caused a spillage of crude into vegetation and soil, without affecting water sources, and reached part of a tertiary road that provides alternative access from Saravena to Tame municipality,” Ecopetrol said.

The ELN, considered a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union, has about 1,500 combatants and maintains long-standing grievances against foreign oil companies, claiming they seize natural resources without benefiting Colombians.