Rebels killed 24 Colombian soldiers sent to help destroy coca plants in the country's southern jungles on yesterday in the worst blow against the military in at least three years, the army said. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia attacked the soldiers near the town of Vista Hermosa in Meta province, an army spokesman said. Details of the attack were not immediately available but the military death toll was the worst for any single incident since President Alvaro Uribe took office in late 2002 promising to crack down on the rebel army known by its Spanish initials FARC.The soldiers were providing security for another army team which was manually destroying coca plants, the army said. Coca leaf is the raw material of cocaine. The 17,000-strong FARC, which has been fighting for socialist revolution since 1964, draws much of its money from the cocaine trade. The peasant militia, which has little support in Colombia's cities, has staged several big attacks this year after a period of relative inactivity when Uribe stepped up military action against them.