BODIES OF U.S. SOLDIERS FLOWN HOME

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- The bodies of two U.S. Army soldiers who died along with
three comrades when their plane crashed during an anti-drug mission over
southern Colombia last month were flown home on Wednesday.

At a Bogota military air base, an honor guard of six U.S. Marines loaded the
flag-draped coffins of Capt. Jose Santiago and Pfc. Ray Krueger into a U.S.
transport plane bound for the men's home base at Ft. Bliss, Texas.

Santiago and Krueger died along with Capt. Jennifer Odom, Chief Warrant
Officer Thomas Moore and Pfc. Bruce Cluff, all from the 204th Military
Intelligence Battalion, when their reconnaissance aircraft plowed into a
jungle-clad mountain in Putumayo province on July 23.

They were believed to be the first U.S. troops killed in the history of
Colombia's U.S.-backed drug war.

The bodies of the other three victims were returned to the United States
last month. But the corpses of Santiago and Krueger were badly mutilated in
the crash and took longer to identify, according to a U.S. Embassy
spokesman.