BY FRANCES ROBLES

                      BOGOTA - Nearly 100 guerrillas from both the left and right wings have died in combat since the
                      Colombian government broke off peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
                      two weeks ago, the military said Thursday.

                      Colombian Armed Forces commander Gen. Fernando Tapias late Thursday announced a summary of
                      casualties for the first time since Colombia's 38-year-old civil war escalated Feb. 20.

                      Since the government ended negotiations and launched airstrikes on a former rebel safe zone, 96
                      people were killed, 68 of them FARC loyalists, Tapias said. Eighteen people died Thursday alone,
                      including one soldier.

                      The Colombian military has long battled FARC guerrillas, Latin America's longest-lasting left-wing
                      insurgency. Three years ago, President Andrés Pastrana handed the FARC a 16,000-square-mile zone --
                      a third the size of Florida -- to lure them to the negotiating table. But escalating FARC violence and a
                      bold Feb. 20 airline hijacking led Pastrana to break off those talks, declare an end to the safe zone and
                      order airstrikes.

                      But government statistics show the increased conflict has only made a marginal difference in the
                      number of casualties logged in a decades-long war that was already costing about 3,500 lives a year.
                      So far this year, 224 people have died in the conflict. A total of 833 rebels were captured, including 296
                      since peace talks ended, Tapias said.

                      ''The most important results are the ones that don't register -- what was prevented,'' Tapias said.

                      The military said it prevented five urban attacks and 15 infrastructure assaults by seizing explosives
                      and capturing suspects. Soldiers have dismantled nine car bombs, eight mines and 29 cocaine labs, and
                      rescued 24 kidnapping victims, Tapias said.

                      Military casualties have numbered 114 this year, largely the result of surprise explosive attacks the
                      military defines as terrorist strikes, Tapias said.

                      The two-week update shows the Colombian military has engaged in combat with non-FARC groups as
                      well, despite peace talks taking place with the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) this week in
                      Havana. A dozen ELN members have been killed and 57 captured, Tapias said.

                      The military has arrested 34 of the ''paras,'' a separate right-wing army formed 21 years ago to protect
                      wealthy land owners from guerrillas. Nine have died, Tapias said. Although the numbers are small, they
                      are significant because the army has been criticized by human rights groups for allowing the
                      paramilitaries to massacre suspected guerrillas with impunity.

                      To nab top FARC leaders, the Colombian government has chosen the tactic it used on drug cartels: a
                      price on their heads. Army Gen. Jorge Enrique Mora said the government would pay up to one million
                      pesos, just under $500,000, for information leading to the arrest or capture of top FARC commanders.

                      ''Chasing these people is not just done with the strength of the military,'' the army commander said.
                      ``It's done with the strength of the state, strength of society and commitment of all institutions.''