US-trained Colombian troops closed in on Marxist FARC guerrillas holding three US defence department contractors, killing three of the rebels today, the army said.
"There is very heavy fighting with the FARC. According to intelligence reports, we know that it is the same guerrilla column that kidnapped the three Americans," a Colombian army officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Troops from a US-trained anti-drug battalion killed the three rebels and retrieved their bodies. The troops are part of a 4,000-strong force hunting for the Americans who were seized when their light aircraft crashed in southern Colombia on February 13th.
FARC said yesterday it had the Americans, calling them "gringo CIA agents" sent to spy on them. The rebels said the rescue operation should be called off or the Americans' lives would be in danger. The US government demands the release of the three men, who it says were civilians working on a defence department contract.
Colombian officials say they were on a routine mission to find illegal coca, the raw material for cocaine, when their Cessna aircraft's single engine failed. They were forced to crash land in the jungle province of Caqueta.
The United States has spent about $2 billion in recent years in mainly military aid for Colombia's offensive against cocaine, and recently lifted restrictions stopping the Colombians using that aid against guerrillas.