By Jeremy McDermott In Medellin

A town in southern Colombia has been cleared out by Marxist rebels, becoming a virtual ghost town.

The whereabouts of the inhabitants of Puerto Alvira are unknown.

When troops swept into the community after reports that guerrillas had been through over the weekend, they found just eight of the town's 700 inhabitants.

The authorities are not sure whether they have been kidnapped, forcibly displaced or temporarily moved by guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to allow them to conduct operations.

Trap

The authorities are claiming the guerrillas have committed another atrocity and kidnapped the town's inhabitants to use as human shields or forcibly drove them from their homes.

Analysts believe the action could be a trap to lure security forces into guerrilla ambushes

It is indeed possible that they have been displaced - a common tactic used by the warring factions against communities who are believed to favour the opposition. Indeed more than two million have been displaced during the 38-year civil conflict.

Yet Puerto Alvira has long been under the control of the guerrillas of the FARC - so much so that their hated enemies, the right-wing paramilitaries, conducted one of their infamous massacres there in 1997.

They assassinated 30 townsfolk, accusing them of being guerrilla sympathisers.

That the FARC told everyone to leave seems certain. Many of the inhabitants have gone to nearby villages, perhaps awaiting the message that they can return.

Analysts believe the action could be a trap to lure security forces into guerrilla ambushes or to divert attention from other action elsewhere.

Whatever the case, yet again innocent civilians are the victims of the warring factions.

And with a hard-line president, Alvaro Uribe, due to take office in a week's time with a promise to crack down on the FARC, the civilian population is sure to bear the brunt of escalated violence.