US agent shot dead bar

AN AGENT of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was killed in a shoot-out yesterday outside a bar in the Colombian capital, Bogota. The US embassy and local police said the agent, Frank Arnold Moreno, was shot in the bustling Zona Rosa (Pink Zone) of bars and nightclubs at 1am.

The reference to a shoot-out implied Mr Moreno may have drawn his own gun. The 50 DEA agents assigned to Colombia, considered the world's most dangerous posting, routinely carry concealed pistols.

The fact he was killed outside a bar suggested the shooting resulted from an argument. The DEA refused to comment.