COLOMBIA TROOPS SEEK MASSACRE SITE

Dozens Killed In Military's Worst Defeat In 30 Years

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Six hundred soldiers slogged through a thick
southern jungle Thursday trying to reach the site where dozens of elite
government soldiers were killed this week in an apparent surprise attack,
the military's worst defeat in more than 30 years of fighting leftist
rebels.

The rebels said 70 soldiers were killed and 30 wounded during the 24-hour
battle Monday and Tuesday in a jungle region that is a center of Colombia's
cocaine trade.

Eight soldiers were taken prisoner and three army helicopters were damaged,
the rebels said Thursday. There was no mention of rebel casualties.

The military command lost contact with its troops Monday, and had no
precise casualty figures because reinforcements had not yet arrived at the
scene.

It was the worst in a string of military debacles that began in 1996 and
have plagued President Ernesto Samper. His peace overtures have been
shunned by the guerrillas, who allege drug corruption in the government
while at the same time enriching themselves through ``taxes'' on the drug
trade.

The latest setback brought stinging new criticism of Colombia's military
leadership, widely criticized as inept, and accused by foreign governments
and international human rights groups of collaborating with paramilitary
death squads that have killed hundreds of alleged guerrilla sympathizers
during Samper's tenure.

Sporadic fighting and bad weather prevented International Red Cross
workers, radioed by rebels Wednesday and asked to retrieve the dead and
wounded, from even attempting to reach the jungle region 260 miles south of
Bogota.

The commander of the armed forces, Gen. Manuel Bonett, said 600 soldiers
were making their way Thursday toward the battle site through thick jungle,
where trails are scarce and waterways the main avenues.

About 120 soldiers of the 3rd Mobile Brigade were fighting guerrillas of
the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, in the jungle near the Caguan River.

So far, the only confirmed military death was a soldier shot through the
lung Tuesday in a helicopter flying over the area, officials said.

Military commanders refused to comment on the fighting.