1986: Pinochet survives rebel ambush
The president of Chile has escaped an attempt on his life in a fierce attack which killed five of his bodyguards and wounded 11 more.
General Augusto Pinochet's motorcade was ambushed by at least 12 rebel fighters as he made his way back from his country home to the Chilean capital.
The Patriotic Front of Manuel Rodriguez - one of the country's Marxist guerrilla groups - are believed to be behind the attack. None of those involved have yet been captured.
The president has declared a 90-day "state of siege" - which gives him sweeping powers of detention and censorship.
The gunmen fired on the presidential convoy with machine guns, rifles, bazookas and hand grenades.
Despite the ferocity of the assault, the driver of the president's armour-plated Mercedes managed to speed back to the leader's residence at El Melocoton.
General Pinochet - who sustained only minor injuries to his hand during the assassination attempt - described the attack to reporters just hours after the attack.
"My first reaction was to get out of the car, but then I thought of my grandson at my side and I covered his body with mine," he said.
This attempt on the general's life comes at a time of increasing political and civil unrest in the South American country.
Amnesty International have said human rights violations in the country are now at the same level as they were before the bloody 1973 coup which brought General Pinochet to power. This first attempt on the president's life marks an escalation in the scale of opposition to the 70-year old military leader who recently announced he wanted to remain in power for another 12 years.
But General Pinochet told reporters he did not fear his opponents.
"Try to kill me: I'm a soldier, I'm ready," he said.
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2 March 2000
Special report