Colombia coal train bombed, exports unaffected

(Adds byline, more details from company on attack, details from local television)

By Patrick Markey

BOGOTA, May 27 (Reuters) - A coal train from Colombia's Cerrejon mine was derailed by a guerrilla bomb attack early Tuesday morning, disrupting the mine's transport operations to the coast though exports were unaffected, the company said.

Cerrejon, operated by BHP Billiton (BHP.AX)BHP.L, Anglo American Plc (AAL.L) and Xstrata (XTA.L), said the attack took place at kilometer 59 of the track on route to Puerto Bolivar on the Caribbean coast but no one was injured in the assault.

Local television showed images of scores of train wagons lying upended and mounds of spilled coal covering the tracks in the remote, La Guajira desert region.

"The attack will not affect shipments of coal to the international market," Cerrejon said in a statement. "It is estimated that in a few days coal transport operations to the port will be return to normal."

Cerrejon has sufficient inventories to ensure shipments go on, a company spokesman said earlier.

The attack derailed around 40 wagons out of the 120-wagon train, carrying 110 tonnes of coal each one. Damage to the 150-km (93-mile) track to the port was still being evaluated.

Authorities blamed the attack on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC guerrillas, who earlier this month knocked out a major oil pipeline with a bomb blast.

Cerrejon, one of Colombia's two largest coal miners, produced 30 million tonnes of coal last year and hopes to expand to 38 million to 40 million tonnes by around 2015.

Rebel attacks on oil pipelines, energy towers and other infrastructure have dropped sharply under President Alvaro Uribe, who has used billions of dollars in U.S. aid to drive back the rebels.

But the FARC is still a capable force in remoter parts of the country, where state presence remains weak. At the start of May, a rebel explosion damaged the Cano Limon-Covenas oil pipeline and disrupted operations there.

The coal train attack occurred just days after the FARC announced on Sunday that its top commander and founder, Manuel Marulanda, had died of a heart attack after more than four decades fighting Latin America's oldest running insurgency. (Additional reporting by Javier Mozzo in Bogota; Editing by Marguerita Choy)