54 DEAD IN COLOMBIAN FIGHTING

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Three days of fighting with guerrillas in northern
Colombia have left at least 54 government troops and police dead, including
22 who were killed when a U.S.-made Black Hawk helicopter crashed, the army
said Friday.

There were no immediate reports of guerrilla casualties in what appeared to
be one of the bloodiest episodes of fighting in the South American country
in years.

At least 30 soldiers died in ground fighting that began Wednesday when the
rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, attacked the town of
Dabeiba in northwest Antioquia State, the army reported. The Black Hawk
helicopter sent in to reinforce Dabeiba's embattled police garrison crashed
Thursday, killing all four airmen and 18 troops aboard.

The army says the sophisticated, armored attack helicopter was not shot
down by guerrillas, but crashed because it banged its tail against the
ground while dropping off troops in heavy wind. However, the wreckage has
not yet been fully inspected.

Black Hawk helicopters are a key weapon in Colombia's arsenal against the
guerrillas and the most expensive component of a $1.3 billion U.S. aid
package recently approved in Washington.

The helicopters included in the package have yet to be delivered. The Black
Hawk that crashed Thursday had been purchased from the U.S. government by
Colombia's army air wing, said an army colonel who asked not to be
identified.

Two police officers were confirmed dead in the fighting. The whereabouts of
at least 47 others were unknown Friday, and it was feared they were either
killed by the FARC or taken prisoner.

Thirty of the missing police were based in Dabeiba and another 17 in
Bagado, a town 110 miles to the south that the FARC also attacked
Wednesday. Bagado's mayor's office and police barracks were destroyed in
the attack, according to accounts from police who flew over the town.

Both towns are in a strategic arms and drug trafficking corridor that has
been a major battleground in the conflict. The leftist FARC has been trying
to move into the region after being pushed out in recent years by the
military and right-wing paramilitary militias.

The FARC routinely attacks 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.
There has been speculation that the leftist rebels and right-wing
paramilitary groups might try to disrupt the balloting.