COLOMBIAN REBELS SAY THEY'RE HOLDING 3 AMERICANS

Hostages From Crashed Plane Will Remain Safe, Statement Warns, Only If
Rescue Efforts Cease.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Leftists guerrillas issued a statement Saturday
acknowledging for the first time that they are holding three U.S.
government contractors who crashed in a plane in rebel-held territory 10
days ago.

Saying they shot down the aircraft Feb. 13, rebels with the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, referred to the three kidnapped
Americans as "CIA agents."

The rebels demanded the immediate cessation of rescue efforts in a small
area surrounding the crash site in the mountains of southern Colombia. The
communique made no mention of the two other crew members, an American and a
Colombian intelligence official, whose bodies were found near the crash
site, shot at close range.

"We will guarantee the life and physical integrity of the three gringo
officials in our power only if the Colombian army immediately suspends
military operations and overflights," read the statement, which was posted
on the group's Web site and signed by its ruling junta.

The rescue efforts are backed by more than 150 U.S. Special Forces troops
whom President Bush sent to Colombia last week after using his executive
authority to waive a congressionally mandated cap of 400 U.S. troops in the
war-torn nation.

The decision to send in the troops, first reported by the Washington Post
on Saturday, brought to 411 the number of U.S. military personnel currently
operating in Colombia. More than 200 U.S. troops already were in the
country on a variety of missions, including training Colombian troops to
defend an oil pipeline used by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum.

There was no immediate response from the Colombian military to the rebels'
demand. Last month, however, President Alvaro Uribe ruled out a cessation
of military operations to allow a rescue mission to retrieve two freelance
journalists kidnapped while on assignment for The Times. U.S. Embassy
officials said they were aware of the rebel statement but had no response.

The search for the kidnapped American contractors continued Saturday, and
there were signs that the Colombian effort had managed to corral the rebels
in a small area.

The FARC asked for the military to suspend its operations around eight
villages near the crash site, about 220 miles south of Bogota, the capital.
The area lies just north of a military base that is the center of
counter-narcotics operations and has large contingents of both U.S. Special
Forces trainers and contractors.

Gen. Jorge Enrique Mora, head of the Colombian armed forces, told reporters
Friday night that rescue operations were focused entirely within the
province where the plane crashed -- an area a bit larger than Maine.
Colombian troops reached the scene within an hour of the crash, giving the
rebels, who usually travel on foot, little time to flee.

"We have the hope that we will be able to return the three people safe and
sound," Mora said.

The American contractors were working under contract for the U.S. Southern
Command when their plane crashed in a remote area after reporting engine
trouble.

The mission of the flight remains unclear, but the U.S. uses contractors in
a variety of missions in Colombia, from mapping and spraying fields of
coca, the source of cocaine, to helping maintain helicopters and radar
stations.

In Crawford, Texas, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said the FARC
statement only confirmed what has been known for at least a week.

"It's a reminder that FARC is a terrorist organization -- how dangerous
they are, how they are well known for hostage-taking and trying to bring
harm to the civilian population of Colombia," Fleischer said. "That's why
the United States stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Colombia
to rout the FARC."

He repeated that "there has been no evidence to support the claim that [the
airplane] was shot down. All our information is that it was engine trouble."

One of the plane's wings was shot through with holes, but Colombian
officials believe that it was hit while crash-landing. After the crash, the
guerrillas immediately captured the men and led them away.

Times staff writer Maura Reynolds in Crawford contributed to this report.