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.