COLOMBIA DESTROYS A U.S. HELICOPTER

BOGOTA, Colombia, Jan. 24 -- Colombia's military destroyed a U.S.
government helicopter to keep it from falling into the hands of
leftist guerrillas who forced it down during an anti-drug mission,
Colombian and U.S. officials said today.

Five police officers were killed protecting the downed UH-1N aircraft
and three soldiers were wounded. There were no Americans aboard the
helicopter when it was hit by ground fire last week.

The crew, which included Colombian police officers and a Peruvian
pilot working for DynCorp of Reston, Va., was evacuated unharmed, the
officials said. DynCorp is a State Department contractor that provides
personnel for anti-drug efforts in Colombia under a $1.3 billion U.S.
program of mostly military aid.

Hovering over the downed aircraft was a second U.S. Huey helicopter
with a search-and-rescue team that included Americans and Colombians
also working for DynCorp, said Col. Carlos Rivera, deputy director of
Colombia's anti-narcotics police force. The team was not called into
action, he said.

The helicopter was destroyed to prevent its capture by guerrillas,
said a U.S. Embassy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Although the downing and the deaths were reported on Jan. 18, the day
they occurred, officials did not reveal at the time that it was a U.S.
government aircraft.

The incident marked the second time in less than a year that rebels of
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia have shot down or forced
down a helicopter on an anti-drug mission.