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Colombian army helicopter crashes during gunfight with rebels

From staff and wire reports

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- A Colombian army helicopter crashed Thursday after being hit by gunfire while providing air support to police officers fighting leftist rebels,

An undetermined number of the 22 aboard were killed.

Colombian Air Force chief Gen. Hector Fabio Velasco said the U.S.-made Black Hawk helicopter gunship went down in an isolated region of northwest Antioquia as it was flying soldiers into the town of Dabeiba, besieged since Wednesday by a 500-strong column of rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

"We know that there are victims, there are dead," Velasco told reporters.

Velasco confirmed that the U.S.-built Black Hawk helicopter, valued at around $12 million, had been hit by FARC groundfire moments before it crashed.

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But he insisted the cause of the crash was accidental, saying the rotor on its tail section hit the ground as it was disembarking the soldiers while hovering slightly above the ground in Dabeiba.

During the rebels' attack on Dabeiba, one police officer died. Officials said FARC also attacked Bagado, a town in northern Choco state, cutting off communications with a police barracks, staffed by 17 officers, and striking some civilian buildings.

"We have no word on their fate," Choco police commander Col. Henry Plaza said of the missing officers.

FARC often attacks rural police posts, peppering them with homemade missiles, and either killing the outgunned officers or taking them prisoners.

Surge in violence

The surge in fighting comes ahead of national elections scheduled for October 29.

Black Hawk helicopters are a key weapon in Colombia's arsenal against the guerrillas, and the most expensive component of a recent U.S. aid package to Colombia.

However, the crash could spark renewed criticism of the helicopters' use in "Plan Colombia," a joint U.S.-Colombian anti-drug effort.

That plan includes a $1.3 billion aid package, which includes U.S. military training and expertise. Under the plan, the United States is to dispatch 90 helicopters to Colombia's armed forces.

While U.S. service personnel can fly the helicopters, they are not supposed to engage in combat with FARC rebels, who control roughly 40 percent of the country and have ties to Colombia's drug traffickers.

CNN Correspondent Marisol Espinosa and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Presidency of Colombia
Colombia's Peace Process
United States Institute of Peace Library, Plan Colombia
National Liberation Army (ELN)--Colombia
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)

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