| At least 60 people were killed in Colombia over the past 24 hours as the military launched new offensive operations a various parts of the country and leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries clashed with each other, military officials said. Ten Colombian troops and 21 right-wing paramilitaries were killed as they clashed on a highway near Villanueva, 325 kilometers (202 miles) east of Bogota, a military spokesman said. In a separate operation near Llano Grande, 545 kilometers (339 miles) northwest of the capital, a Colombian brigade killed 17 guerrillas from the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the military said. Four soldiers were injured in the skirmish. Colombian troops seized 38 AK-47s, machine guns, grenades and rifles. They also took landmines, unidentified projectiles, radios and military uniforms. The FARC, with 17,000 guerrillas, is the largest insurgency in the country. About 10,000 paramilitary groups are under the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), an umbrella organization that has been fighting the Marxist rebels. AUC is holding peace talks with President Alvaro Uribe’s government. |