FIGHTING IN COLOMBIA KILLS 56 SOLDIERS, REBELS

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Clashes between rebels and the army in Colombia's
main coca growing region left 30 soldiers and 26 leftist guerrillas
dead on Friday, the army said.

They were the heaviest casualties since a U.S.-backed anti-narcotics
offensive got under way late last year.

Clashes between the rebels and the army broke out at an army base
near the riverside town of Puerto Leguizamo, 318 miles south of
Bogot in southern Putumayo state, a launching point for Colombian
marine operations against rebels and drug traffickers.

The army said it sent in reinforcements and was pursuing retreating
guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Only six guerrilla bodies had been recovered, but army Gen. Nestor
Ramirez put the number of dead at 26. He said the soldiers were on
anti-narcotics operations when they came into contact with the FARC
rebels.

A Russian-made army helicopters was forced to make an emergency
landing after its pilot and co-pilot were hit by rebel gunfire, the
army reported. They were the only ones injured in the forced landing.

In another development, police on Friday arrested 57 alleged members
of a Colombian gang accused of seizing oil workers in Ecuador last
year and killing at least one American hostage.

Police said the group was believed responsible for at least eight
separate kidnappings in Ecuador since 1990, abducting at least 12
Americans.

In the latest case, 10 foreign oil workers were seized late last year
from an Ecuadorean oil camp, just south of the Colombia border. The
kidnappers killed one U.S. hostage in January before the remaining
hostages were freed in March, reportedly after a $13 million ransom
was paid.

The heavy troop losses were a new setback for Colombia's U.S.-backed
military, which has struggled to regain the upper hand against rebels
growing mightier with profits from ties to the drug trade.