BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Soldiers backed by helicopter gunships on
                   Wednesday retook a vital stretch of highway connecting Colombia's two
                   main cities, breaking an embarrassing four-day rebel blockade and freeing
                   hundreds of hostages.

                   The army could not immediately confirm radio reports that one soldier was
                   killed by a land mine. No other casualties were reported.

                   In a bold gesture of defiance, about 150 rebels of the National Liberation
                   Army, or ELN, blocked the highway that connects Bogota with Medellin on
                   Saturday, shooting out the tires of scores of vehicles and detaining about
                   1,000 people.

                   Air Force helicopters began buzzing the area, 60 kilometers (40 miles) east
                  of Medellin, on Tuesday night after guerrillas allowed some older women and
                  children to leave, and troops were airlifted in after dawn Wednesday.

                   In a firefight broadcast live by Colombian television networks, soldiers fired
                   at withdrawing rebels from behind some of the estimated 500 trucks
                   blocking a long, winding stretch of road.

                   The incident highlighted the increasing danger of road travel in Colombia.
                   Leftist rebels, who control about half the countryside, frequently mount
                   roadblocks, kidnapping the affluent.

                   The armed forces chief, Gen. Fernando Tapias, said combat with the ELN
                   continued 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the highway Wednesday afternoon,
                   preventing authorities from reopening the road.

                   He said he government troops are fanning out in the area to protect power
                   lines from persistent guerrilla sabotage

                   The ELN, the country's second-largest rebel band with an estimated 5,000
                   fighters, has waged a devastating sabotage campaign in recent weeks,
                   dynamiting oil pipelines and power pylons, forcing electricity rationing for
                   hundreds of thousands of Colombians.

                   The rebel band is demanding that President Andres Pastrana's government
                   withdraw troops from a 6,000-square-kilometer (2,300-square-mile) area,
                   a traditional ELN bastion, in the northern state of Bolivar as a condition for
                   opening peace talks.

                   Thousands of peasants opposed to a pullout zone blocked the main highway
                   connecting Bogota with the Caribbean coast for a second day on
                   Wednesday.

                    Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.