Heavy fighting south of Bogota leaves six soldiers dead

CNN
September 5, 1999

Heavy fighting south of Bogota leaves six soldiers dead

                  BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- At least six Colombian soldiers have
                  been killed in fierce fighting with Marxist guerrillas in a rugged mountain
                  region just south of Bogota, an army spokeswoman said.

                  The clashes, which began late Friday, were still raging Sunday as some 600
                  elite counterinsurgency troops from the army's No. 1 Mobile Brigade hunted
                  a column of up to 1,500 Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
                  guerrillas, the spokeswoman said.

                  She was unable to detail exact rebel casualties in the battle near San Juan de
                  Sumapaz -- a village at the heart of a strategic region of deep gorges and
                  cloud-shrouded peaks that tower above 13,000 feet (4,000 meters).

"Unfortunately this is a war ... At the moment we have six soldiers dead and
an undetermined number of bandits killed," the spokeswoman said.

                  She said the army had succeeded in dismantling a guerrilla camp and seized
                  weapons and explosives but added that there was no chance of flying in
                  reinforcements by helicopter because of bad weather and thick fog.

                  The area, a long-standing rebel stronghold, stretches down into the eastern
                  side of the Andes mountains from the working class shantytowns on the
                  southern edge of Bogota.

                  The remote region, known as Sumapaz, was the scene of heavy fighting in
                  July when a FARC unit killed 40 soldiers in an attack the army said marked
                  the start of a nationwide offensive.

                  The army said at the time that the guerrilla raiding party had been planning to
                  descend on a southern neighborhood of the capital itself and attack the
                  high-security La Picota prison and the nearby Infantry School.

                  The regional rebel commander, known by his alias "Romana," who was
                  thought to be leading this weekend's fighting, is considered by the
                  government to be one of the FARC's most powerful leaders. He shot to
                  notoriety last year when he was blamed for the kidnapping of four U.S.
                  bird-watchers in mountains east of Bogota. They were released after a
                  month.

                  Officials say the FARC has long used Sumapaz as a safe haven to plan
                  attacks in the area around Bogota and as a training ground for urban guerrilla
                  fighters who are then sent to the capital.

The latest fighting came less than a week after the army said it killed 50
FARC rebels in the oil-rich eastern plains region.

                  President Andres Pastrana launched peace talks with the FARC, Latin
                  America's largest surviving 1960s rebel army, in January but there has been
                  no lull in the long-running war that has claimed more than 35,000 lives in 10
                  years.