Rebel offensive leaves 60 dead in Colombia

             By TIM JOHNSON
             Herald Staff Writer

             BOGOTA, Colombia -- Barely two weeks after the biggest rebel offensive in
             more than a decade, insurgents laid siege to an army column in an attack that left
             about 60 people dead, the military said Sunday.

             The combat in northwest Colombia signaled that rebels are seeking to sweep back
             into the banana-growing Uraba region that borders on Panama, the military said.

             ``There are about 60 dead between soldiers and subversives,'' said Gen. Martin
             Orlando of the army's 17th Brigade.

             In a more detailed report, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
             Colombia (FARC) told television newscasts that the insurgency had killed 53
             soldiers, wounded 30 others and taken 20 prisoners. He did not mention FARC
             casualties.

             Combat near Bogota

             The FARC spokesman, who did not identify himself, said the combat took place
             in the Tamborale Gorge near Pavarando, 250 miles northwest of Bogota.

             In recent years, rightist militias have taken control of the Uraba region, one of the
             bloodiest in Colombia. The militias executed suspected guerrilla sympathizers and
             union leaders and forced FARC forces on the run. The violence displaced
             hundreds of thousands of civilians to neighboring regions.

             The new rebel attack is sure to bring further hand-wringing within a military that is
             already severely demoralized.

             Earlier attack

             In a massive rebel offensive Aug. 3-5, insurgents from the FARC and the smaller
             National Liberation Army launched 70 attacks in 17 of Colombia's 32 states,
             leaving a death toll reliably estimated at between 200 and 300 police, soldiers,
             civilians and insurgents.

             The rebels destroyed what was once the nation's most important police
             anti-narcotics base in Miraflores in the eastern savannas.

             Two days after assuming office Aug. 7, President Andres Pastrana removed the
             military commander and the chiefs of each branch of the armed forces, promising a
             new military strategy against the insurgents.