At least 50 people have been killed in a week of heavy fighting between Marxist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries in northern Colombia, defence officials said late on Friday.
Guerillas from the Cuban-oriented National Liberation Army (ELN) have been fighting with paramilitaries for control of the town of Santa Rosa, Army General Martin Carreno said.
The ELN was reinforced by members of the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), another Marxist group.
Authorities said that about 30 rebel troops and 20 paramilitary fighters were killed.
For months, the paramilitaries have been challenging the rebels for control of large sections of the northern province of Bolivar, site of lucrative drug cultivation and gold mining that all the illegal armies exploit as sources of revenue.
The report of open fighting comes just two days after the swearing in of new Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who has promised a harsh military crackdown against Colombia’s rebels after years of fruitless peace talks attempted by the previous government.
For several weeks leading up to the ceremony, FARC conducted a brutal campaign to disrupt the inauguration, including bombings that killed 20 people Wednesday in Bogota as Uribe was taking the oath of office.
The smaller of Colombia’s two major Marxist guerilla groups, the ELN is reportedly in a weakened state and has lost many of its members to the better-paying paramilitaries. – Sapa-DPA