By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service

CARACAS, Oct. 20 –– In the Colombian military's bloodiest setback this year, left-wing guerrillas killed 54 members of the army and the national police during a
three-day battle in a rugged northwestern state, officials reported today. Almost half of the dead perished when a U.S.-made Black Hawk helicopter crashed after
being hit by guerrilla fire.

The clashes occurred in the lush mountains of Antioquia as the Colombian army moved to take back a strategic arms and drug-trafficking route from the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Though Colombian military officials said today that the region had been recaptured, no FARC casualties were
reported, and area residents said the guerrillas still control key towns.

As army troops attempted to recover the downed aircraft today amid continued fighting, Colombian military officials acknowledged that the UH-60 Black Hawk had
been hit by guerrilla gunfire but attributed the crash to an accident.

Colombian Air Force Gen. Hector Fabio Velasco said the helicopter's tail rotor clipped the ground as it hovered above a contested landing zone near the town of
Dabeiba, about 80 miles northwest of Medellin, amid heavy fighting between army and guerrilla forces.

Most of the $11.7 million helicopter remained unrecoverable because of combat and treacherous terrain, hampering an investigation into the cause of the crash, which
killed 18 army troops and four crewmen. U.S. sources said three other helicopters on the same mission returned to base riddled with FARC gunfire, suggesting the
crash may have been the result of a guerrilla attack.

"Was this pilot error or did he take a round himself?" said one U.S. official in Bogota. "They will begin trying to piece that together over the next few days."

The crash investigation comes as U.S. and Colombian officials consider how best to outfit the large, swift transport helicopters to perform in war zones. The U.S.
government is sending 15 Black Hawks to the Colombian army and national police as part of its $1.3 billion contribution to Plan Colombia, President Andres
Pastrana's three-year strategy to cut coca production in half.

The helicopters will be used to ferry U.S.-trained anti-drug battalions into coca-rich regions, many of them controlled by guerrilla forces that finance their operations
through the drug trade. The downed helicopter was not part of the U.S. package, but one of 19 purchased by the Colombian government to support anti-drug
efforts.

Before the plan's military operations begin in December, the FARC and its privately funded paramilitary opponent, the United Self-Defense Forces, have been
moving to fortify their positions in Antioquia and in southern states where most of the military might will be directed. The FARC's 500-man assault on Dabeiba and
surrounding towns was part of that offensive.

Last week, the Clinton administration announced that it will be sending three fewer Black Hawks than the 18 originally planned to ensure that each is adequately
equipped for Colombia's escalating armed conflict. That could include outfitting each with a .50-caliber GAU-19 machine gun, the model already being used on the
12 Black Hawks owned by the Colombian air force.

A cable from the U.S. Embassy last month revealed that heavy GAU-19s may be throwing the helicopters out of balance, though officials from the gun manufacturer
said today that those problems had been addressed. The downed helicopter belonged to the Colombian army and was not mounted with a GAU-19; instead, it was
equipped with a smaller machine gun with less range, according to officials in Bogota. The larger gun is designed to provide covering fire from outside the range of
guerrilla weapons.

The Black Hawk is the helicopter of choice in the Colombian war because it can carry up to 22 people--the number aboard the one that was downed
Thursday--according to its manufacturer, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., and U.S. officials in Bogota. A U.S. Army spokesman in Washington gave a different account of
its capacity, saying that the standard combat load in U.S. Army Black Hawks is three crew members plus a squad of 11 combat troops.

The Black Hawk can also travel faster and farther than the Bell Huey II, the second model included in the U.S. military package.

A U.S. official in Bogota said today that Black Hawks often survive heavy fire; one returned from a combat zone earlier this year with 82 bullet holes.

"It's still the best piece of equipment around for this work," said John Mackey, an aide to Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.), who is chairman of the House
International Relations Committee and a staunch advocate of the U.S. military package. "There has been a lot of fighting in this area, though, and this is tough
country," he said. FARC rebels shot down a Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter three years ago, killing five U.S. military advisers on board.

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