Antioquia province health workers, the first officials to reach the remote northern
                 Colombian jungle village of Vigia del Fuerte since the battle began earlier this week,
                 named and provided ages of 50 of the dead. Incl uded in the fatalities were a baby
                 and many small children, a provincial government news release said.

                 Most of the 3,500 people killed in an average year in Colombia's 38-year-old
                 conflict are civilians, but the fighting around Vigia del Fuerte and across a jungle
                 river in Bojaya, Choco province, stands out in a savage struggle as one of the
                 bloodiest incidents involving noncombatants for years.

                 The army, fearing ambushes, has still not come to the rescue of the impoverished
                 villages, where surrounding thick jungle has been made more impenetrable by wet
                 season flooding.

                 The parish priest of Bojaya said by radio earlier this week that many of his
                 parishioners were killed when they sheltered in his church and it was hit by a
                 home-made mortar fired by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or
                 FARC.

                 About 800-1,200 FARC guerrillas attacked 500-600 far-right paramilitaries --
                 members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC -- who had
                 gathered around Vigia del Fuerte several days ago. The two outlawed forces are
                 fighting for control of drug crops and a key route to Panama for smuggling cocaine
                 out of Colombia and weapons in, the army says.

                 The medics flew in by helicopter and evacuated 19 seriously wounded, even though
                 the zone was not secure. They also examined another 18 corpses, and said 30
                 victims remained unidentified.

                 It was too dangerous to bury any of the dead, the Antioquia Health Department
                 said. It did not say how many were killed in the church, or how many of the dead
                 were rebels or paramilitary outlaws.

                 Families killed

                 However, most of those named seemed to be civilians. A handful of surnames were
                 constantly repeated, suggesting families -- mainly children -- had been wiped out
                 together.

                 The priest and a local hospital worker have made desperate appeals for help in the
                 past few days, broadcasting their requests over a faulty radio connection. The two
                 villages are poor, and local officials say many of the houses are thatched huts.

                 But the army fears FARC guerrillas are lying in ambush along the River Atrato, the
                 most reliable way into the two villages, and the military has not yet been able to
                 mobilize the necessary men and equipment to send troops in.

                 "We know that on the way there they have set up ambushes. That's typical of those
                 FARC bandits," said army Gen. Leonel Gomez.

                 A provincial health official told Reuters the eventual death toll could be as high as
                 130.

                 In addition to the dead, another 105 people have been wounded, 35 of these badly
                 enough to require hospitalization, the priest and the local hospital official have said.

                 The FARC and the paramilitaries ceased fighting when the ambulance helicopters
                 flew in.

                 The fighting around Vigia del Fuerte and Bojaya has been among the heaviest since
                 the government abandoned three-year-old peace talks with the FARC in February.

                 Human rights groups say the government has not done enough to break links
                 between the armed forces and the AUC, which is illegal and has roots in vigilante
                 groups set up to defend cattle ranchers and drug dealers from Marxist guerrillas.

                    Copyright 2002 Reuters.