COLOMBIA PLEDGES TO INVESTIGATE KILLING OF 6 CHILDREN BY TROOPS

BOGOTA, Colombia Aug. 19 -- In a test of its commitment to improving its human rights record, the Colombian government has promised a full-scale investigation of an army attack on an elementary school hiking trip that left six children between ages 8 and 10 dead this week. Immediately after the children were gunned down on Tuesday, top commanders of the army publicly blamed guerrillas involved in Colombia's long-running insurgencies for the deaths, saying that rebels were using the children as human shields in a gun battle. But throughout the week, various witnesses came forward to say that there were no rebels near the shooting in a coffee field in northwestern Colombia.

The episode came at a particularly embarrassing moment for President Andres Pastrana, who is preparing for President Clinton's six-hour visit on Aug. 30.

Over the next few days, Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright is to certify whether Colombia has met several human rights conditions in order to be eligible to receive the military component of a new $1.3 billion aid program designed to combat drug trafficking in two southern provinces dominated by Marxist guerrillas.

If Dr. Albright does not certify Colombia, President Clinton can still grant it a national security waiver to release the aid. A halt in aid -- which Clinton administration officials say is vital to slowing the flow of Colombian cocaine to the United States -- is considered highly unlikely.

The government has announced that it is investigating 25 soldiers and officers of the army's Fourth Division in the shootings of the children and says that 43 investigators of three government agencies have been put on the case. Five officers and 33 soldiers have been given administrative duties until the investigation is completed, with President Pastrana promising to monitor the inquiry himself.

Forensic specialists have already been sent to the village of Pueblo Rico in Antioquia province to examine the bodies of the six children who were killed. Several other children were wounded. Four of the children killed were on a school hiking trip. Two others lived in the coffee fields where the shooting took place.

Government officials insist that the killings were not intentional. "The only option we can definitely rule out is that Colombian soldiers would have fired intentionally on the children," Attorney General Alfonso Gomez Mendez said.

"It remains to be determined if an error was inevitable or not," said Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez. "There was no intention by members of the armed forces to cause damage to civilians."

Army officials said the incident occurred as units of two army battalions were chasing rebels of the National Liberation Army, the country's second-largest rebel group best known for kidnappings and bombing oil pipelines. Francisco Galan, a spokesman for the group, denied his forces were anywhere in the area.

The shootings have been harshly criticized by human rights activists.

Jose Miguel Vivanco, director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch, said the incident "goes straight to the heart of the issue -- which is the abuse of the armed forces, including attacks on the civilian population."

He added, "I don't think Colombia qualifies at this stage for U.S. military support."