By Hugh Bronstein

BOGOTA, April 9 (Reuters) - Colombian rebels destroyed the city of Cali's police headquarters with a car bomb early on Monday, authorities said, striking at the heart of President Alvaro Uribe's popular U.S.-backed security policy.

The driver of a passing taxi was killed in the blast, which was attributed to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Colombia biggest left-wing rebel army.

Fourteen police officers and three children were among 34 people wounded in the explosion, which wrecked several nearby businesses as well as the six-story police building.

"This was done by FARC drug traffickers," national police chief Jorge Daniel Castro told reporters.

The 17,000-member FARC is funded by Colombia's multibillion-dollar cocaine trade. The group, formed in 1964, says it is fighting to narrow the wide gap that separates rich and poor in this Andean country, but even left-wing politicians say the FARC has scant popular support.

With the help of billions of dollars in U.S. aid, Uribe has cut urban crime rates and made the highways safer by bolstering police and army presence in a nationwide security crackdown.

"The FARC is making the point that it has not been defeated and that Uribe's security policies have not reduced its offensive capacity," security analyst Daniel Garcia Pena said.

The western city of Cali is often the site of violence between the FARC and government security forces. Colombia's toughest drug cartel is based near the city.

Witnesses said they saw a man exit a red pickup truck where the bomb was planted and leave the scene on a waiting motorcycle just before the explosion.

Uribe, whose father was killed by the FARC more than 20 years ago, was re-elected in a 2006 landslide after Congress changed the constitution to allow him to seek a second term.

He remains popular despite a scandal in which eight members of his congressional coalition have been jailed awaiting trial on charges of collusion with right-wing paramilitary militias also tied to the drug trade.

Thousands are killed and tens of thousands are displaced a year by violence associated with Colombia's guerrilla war.

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