COLOMBIAN TROOPS KILL AT LEAST 24 GUERRILLAS

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Government troops clashed with leftist rebels in the
southern state of Guavaire Thursday, leaving 24 insurgents dead, Colombia's
armed forces commander said.

Gen. Fernando Tapias said on radio station Radionet that the guerrillas
were members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. He
added that one rebel was captured.

There was no immediate word if there had been any casualties among
government troops.

The military has been pursuing a rebel unit through the jungles of Guaviare
for more than a month. Over that time, 52 rebels have been killed and 38
captured, Tapias said.

Colombia's 37-year civil war pits leftist rebels against rightist
paramilitaries and government forces. President Andres Pastrana ceded a
Switzerland-sized swath of territory to the 16,000-strong FARC in 1998 in
an attempt to jump-start peace talks, but negotiations have yielded little
progress.