More than 30,000 Colombian army and police troops will be on maximum alert in Bogotá on Monday to prevent terrorist attacks from marring the start of President Alvaro Uribe’s second consecutive four-year term.

Mr Uribe’s first investiture, in 2002, was thrown into bloody chaos when the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, launched a mortar attack on the presidential palace, leaving 21 dead. In the past week, leftwing guerrillas have killed at least 30 people, mostly soldiers.