COLOMBIA STAGES MAJOR ATTACK AGAINST REBELS

Pressure Raised By Imminent U.S. Visit Thought To Have Prompted Offensive

SAN JOSE DEL GUAVIARE, Colombia (AP) - Waves of helicopters carrying troops
lifted off from a staging area in Colombia's coca-growing plains today as
the military hunted down a wounded column of more than 1,000 leftist rebels.

After many years on the defensive, the military is trying to show it can
hit back at the rebels.

The offensive comes a week before the arrival of a high-level U.S.
delegation, and with the spotlight on Colombian President Andres Pastrana
over the rebels' misuse of a Switzerland-sized safe haven he ceded them in
peace talks.

The army's week-old offensive is unlikely to prove decisive in a war that
shows no signs of letup. But it demonstrates how the military - stocked
with U.S.-made combat helicopters and growing aid and training from
Washington - has been faring better lately on the battlefield against the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's largest
insurgency.

The rebels on the run near San Jose del Guaviare are believed to be hiding
in the jungles to the east, cut off from their base and running low on food
and other supplies.

A half-dozen deserters say the guerrillas are desperately trying to make
their way back to the rebel's southern safe haven after their plan to
attack towns and an army base in Colombia's southeast was foiled by a
government counterattack - one of the biggest in memory.

Leaflets dropped from helicopters invite the insurgents to surrender.

"They are running out of food. Their radios must be losing power. They have
many wounded," said an army colonel commanding a brigade, who refused to
give his name for security reasons. "Our mission now is to eliminate them,"
he said.

The military's success here and in other recent battles would have seemed
impossible just a few years ago, when the 16,000-strong FARC was routinely
battering an undertrained army.

In June, helicopter-borne troops turned back another attempted large rebel
strike, killing 26 guerrillas in a battle in which 30 troops also died. In
November, a nearly 400-rebel unit was dismantled by the military after
being spotted from air traversing a high-Andean plateau.

Washington approved a $1.3 billion US aid package last year devoted to
helping Colombia fight drugs. However, there are voices calling for U.S.
military aid to be targeted directly against the rebels - something critics
worry will draw the United States into Colombia's brutal war.

A U.S. delegation is scheduled to arrive in Bogota next week, the first
such visit since President George W. Bush took office in Washington.

The delegation is expected to raise concerns with Pastrana about the
enormous jungle sanctuary he ceded them to initiate peace talks, a U.S.
official in Washington said Thursday.

Government warplanes using night-vision gear began bombarding the rebel
column late on Aug. 13. The next day, helicopters began ferrying some 4,000
troops into the zone, lying along a river dividing Guaviare and Meta states.

An additional 1,800 men were being flown into the area on Thursday - a vast
region of dense vegetation offering the guerrillas many escape routes.

The troops involved in the offensive are not member of the counter-
narcotics brigade trained under the U.S. aid package. The Blackhawk
helicopters were purchased by Colombia, not donated from Washington. The
military says it has not relied on U.S. intelligence assistance in the
operations.

Three years ago, the FARC overran a nearby anti-narcotics base during a
nationwide rebel offensive that helped force Pastrana into peace talks. The
negotiations have ground to virtual standstill.