Over 200 children fall ill after drinking poisonous water in Colombia

At least 261 children fell ill on Friday after drinking poisonous water in central Colombia's city of Villavicencio, news reports said.

Earlier Friday, an aqueduct was attacked with explosives disrupting water supply to parts of the city, and local authorities had to use tank-trucks to supply water to some 300,000inhabitants.

Rescue workers said the children had drunk water from a ravine and from the vehicles sent for the contingence, and they were investigating which had caused the incident.

The children were taken to medical centers with strong gastrointestinal infections, doctors said.

Colombian authorities blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a major rebel group in the country, for the attack.