U.S. TO TRAIN COLOMBIA'S NEW COMMANDO UNIT

BOGOTA, Colombia, Oct. 3 -- U.S. Special Forces troops will begin training
a new Colombian army commando unit this month to attack outlawed armed
groups, U.S. officials said today.

The officials, speaking on condition they not be identified, said the
Colombian soldiers would be trained at an army base near the capital and
would then form a special forces commando battalion.

"It's similar to commando battalions in different armies around the world
that do direct action raids," an official said.

Critics of U.S. military assistance to Colombia have warned Washington
against allowing anti-drug assistance to evolve into broader military aid,
which would involve the United States directly in the 38-year-old civil war.

The U.S. officials said the training of the new commando battalion is part
of the war on drugs, known as Plan Colombia. They said congressional
approval for the training was not needed.

"They will be focused on counter-narcotics operations and narco- terrorist
organizations," one of the officials said at the briefing. Washington and
the Colombian government consider all three of Colombia's outlawed armed
groups -- two leftist guerrilla groups and a right-wing paramilitary force
- -- to be both drug-trafficking and terrorist organizations.

U.S. Special Forces troops have already trained a 2,000-member Colombian
army brigade to combat drug trafficking. Its task is to wipe out the coca
and opium poppy crops from which cocaine and heroin are made. Rebels and
their paramilitary foes tax these crops, earning huge profits.