BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER CRASHES IN COLOMBIA

BOGOTA, Colombia, Oct. 19 - An army helicopter crashed today while
providing air support to police under attack from leftist guerrillas, the
military said.

Several of the four crew members aboard the U.S.-built Black Hawk were
killed, but the military could not immediately say how many. Officials
insisted the sophisticated, heavily armored helicopter had not been shot down.

The army attributed the crash, in mountains near the town of Dabeiba in
northwest Antioquia state, to a heavy tail wind. It did not immediately
provide details.

Colombia's army air wing purchased the Black Hawk from the U.S. government,
according to an army colonel who asked not to be identified. He said it was
equipped with a .50-caliber machine gun.

Black Hawk helicopters are a key weapon in Colombia's arsenal against the
guerrillas, and the most expensive component of a recently approved $1.3
billion U.S. aid package. The helicopters included in the plan have yet to
be delivered.

Dabeiba was one of two northern towns attacked Wednesday by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's largest
leftist insurgency.

One of Dabeiba's 30 police officers died in the attack, officials said, and
heavy fighting continued today.

The FARC routinely attack rural police posts in overwhelming numbers,
peppering them with homemade missiles, and either killing the outgunned
officers or taking them prisoner.

The surge in fighting comes ahead of nationwide local elections Oct. 29,
which rebels and right-wing paramilitary groups might try to disrupt.