TWO IN DOWNED PLANE SHOT DEAD

FLORENCIA, Colombia -- An American and a Colombian whose bodies were found
in the wreckage of a US antidrug plane were shot to death at close range
''in an act of extreme cruelty,'' Colombia's top general said yesterday.

The US State Department said three other people in the aircraft, all
Americans, may have been taken hostage by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC.

''We have reliable reports that crew members are being held by the terrorist
group the FARC,'' State Department spokesman Charles Barclay said in
Washington. ''If these reports are accurate, we demand the crew members be
released unharmed immediately.''

The bodies of an American and a Colombian were found in the wreckage. The
identities of those aboard haven't been released.

The single-engine Cessna went down Thursday in rebel territory in southern
Colombia where the United States has backed a massive campaign in the region
to locate and destroy the drug crops with aerial fumigation. Plantations of
coca, used to make cocaine, are prevalent in this region.

The Americans were contractors for the US military's Southern Command, which
oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, US
government officials said in Washington. Their mission was unknown. The US
Embassy said the plane crashed eight minutes before its scheduled arrival in
Florencia, a provincial capital. Colombian troops and US officials continued
their search for the survivors. DynCorp, a US State Department contractor
involved in antidrug missions in Colombia, said on Thursday that they were
helping in the rescue effort.

Four Colombian soldiers involved in the rescue effort were reported injured
by rebel land mines.

FARC was also blamed for an explosion yesterday in Neiva that blew up a
house and killed 15 people, including eight policemen who were investigating
a reported rebel plot to assassinate Uribe. Army troops patrolled the main
road in the region, hoping to intercept the rebels if they tried to move the
men out of the area by road. The army also closed the road between the towns
of El Doncello and Puerto Rico -- near where the plane was believed to have
crashed -- for several hours late Thursday, local residents said.

Washington is now moving beyond simply fighting drug trafficking, which
provides profits for rebels and right-wing militias, to helping the
Colombian government battle the insurgents by providing training,
intelligence, and other support.

US special forces in eastern and central Colombia are training Colombian
Army troops in counterinsurgency tactics and Washington is planning to share
intelligence on the rebels with Colombia.

FARC and the National Liberation Army have fought the government for nearly
40 years. About 3,500 people, mostly civilians, die each year in the
fighting.