COLOMBIAN MILITARY GAINS ACCOMPANY ALBRIGHT AID MISSION

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombian rebels suffered their heaviest
losses in months over the weekend as Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright visited the war-torn South American nation to promote a huge
military and economic aid package.

Gains by drug-financed rebels have made Colombia the Western
Hemisphere's No. 1 security threat in the eyes of U.S. officials. But
as the weekend fighting showed, a battlefield turnaround may be taking
place.

The military claims 44 guerrillas were killed Saturday when ground
troops and helicopter gunships repelled a rebel assault 30 miles
southeast of the capital, Bogota. Six soldiers and police died, as
well as eight civilians.

Several wounded guerrillas surrendered; television images showed a
slain comrade being carried out of the battle zone, his hands and feet
tied to a branch. It was the highest rebel death toll since hundreds
of guerrilla fighters died in a nationwide offensive last July.

Separate fighting raged yesterday in northern Bolivar state, where at
least 13 guerrillas have been killed, armed services chief Gen.
Fernando Tapias told reporters. Rebel bombings of power lines also
left Colombia's second-largest city, Medellin, without power for
several hours.

While gunfire rattled the Andean mountain town of Guayabetal on
Saturday, Albright was meeting with President Andres Pastrana in a
Caribbean port hundreds of miles away.

Albright, who also stopped in Panama and Mexico on a three-day Latin
America tour, discussed a proposed $1.6 billion emergency aid package
for Colombia, the source of 80 percent of the world's cocaine.

The aid plan, which must be approved by Congress, is earmarked for
fighting narcotics, not guerrillas. But most of the money would pay
for helicopters and training for two new battalions that will push
into southern jungles where the rebels are heavily involved in the
cocaine trade.

U.S. officials admit privately that they hope the anti-narcotics aid
will also help level the military playing field and even pressure the
rebels in peace talks.

Rich from taxing the drug trade, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, has become powerful in recent years, killing
hundreds of police and soldiers. The 15,000-member group became the
dominant force in a third of the country and has an air of
invincibility.

But in recent months, Colombia's armed forces have dealt the biggest
blows.

Reporters shuttled to battle zones have been shown hundreds of dead
guerrillas, the first time in years the military has backed up
frequent claims of heavy FARC casualties.

Improved intelligence and air power are key in the turnaround,
officials and analysts agree. Most of the rebels were killed when
helicopters and fighter planes strafed retreating guerrilla columns.

Army officials gave credit Saturday to a new ``rapid reaction force''
- - 4,000 elite troops backed by fighter planes and helicopter gunships.