US TRIO ABDUCTED DURING SECRET ANTI-DRUG MISSION

THREE Americans thought to have been captured by left-wing guerrillas in
Colombia were on a secret intelligence mission inside rebel-held territory,
according to military sources.

A huge search-and-rescue mission being carried out by 1,000 Colombian
troops, assisted by US spy aircraft, has so far found no sign of the men,
who could become valuable bargaining chips in the hands of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), the country's largest rebel
army. Two others, an American and a Colombian, were reported to have been
shot dead during the capture.

The men were travelling on Thursday morning from Bogota, the capital, to
the Larandia military base, an anti-drug and counter-insurgency operations
centre in thick jungle about 235 miles to the south. US special forces have
trained Colombian anti-drug battalions at Larandia and US military
intelligence experts also operate radar facilities that track
drug-smuggling flights, as well as co-ordinating aerial eradication of drug
crops.

The men were described as Pentagon contractors who were assisting the
Colombian military on an unspecified anti-drug mission. They were equipped
with "jungle-busting" radar to identify FARC units, sources quoted by
Newsweek magazine said.

The pilot of the single-engine Cessna told air traffic controllers that his
engine had failed and that he was trying to glide. "Somewhere during the
flight the engine cut out and they were looking for a place to put down,"
Chip Barclay, a State Department spokesman, said.

The pilot veered south, presumably to try to land in the provincial capital
of Florencia. He never made it to the base, officials say, and had to land
in an area full of guerrillas. Officials say that the aircraft was able to
make a safe emergency landing. The pilot radioed his position and asked for
a rescue team. But radio contact was lost soon afterwards.

The base commander at Larandia immediately ordered five Black Hawk
helicopters to the area. But when they reached the site 30 minutes later
they were surprised to find the burnt-out wreckage of the aircraft and the
bodies of two of its occupants. Both appeared to have been shot at close
range, one in the head and the other in the chest.

General Jorge Enrique Mora, Colombia's chief military commander, said that
the five crew members were alive when the Cessna landed and that rebels had
killed two of them "execution-style in an act of cruelty".

US officials have not released the identity of the dead American, citing
security grounds. The Colombian was identified as Sergeant Luis Cruz, of
Army Intelligence.

Colombian officials said that soldiers had found footprints near the
wreckage, but no sign of the other three Americans. They also reported an
intercepted Farc radio transmission, in which a rebel commander was heard
saying: "We have them! We have them!" Local farmers reported seeing the men
being escorted away by Farc guerrillas.

War Against Drugs

*The US has about 500 civilian and military personnel in Colombia providing
military training and civilian assistance

*About 70 US special forces personnel are based in the northern province of
Arauca to train troops in counter-guerrilla techniques and to defend an oil
pipeline

*Colombia is the third-highest recipient of US foreign aid, after Israel
and Egypt. The US has pumped almost $2 billion (UKP1.2 billion) in mostly
military aid into Colombia in the past three years in an effort to destroy
the drugs industry

*The 18,000-strong Farc rebel group has never held hostage any American
working for the US Government, but 46 US citizens have been kidnapped in
Colombia since 1998

*The Farc holds several hundred hostages, including members of the
Colombian police and military, as well as a former Defence Minister and a
former presidential candidate