Military officials in Colombia say army units backed by helicopter gunships are pursuing a rebel column that attacked a town Guayabetal near the capital, Bogota, on Saturday.

The armed forces chief, General Fernando Tapias, said that forty-four rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia were killed in what he described as the worst fighting in six months.

He added that the rebels had tried to take over the town some fifty kilometres southeast of Bogota, but were repelled.

The fighting started as the United States Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, was in the Caribbean city of Cartagena to discuss a one-point-six billion dollar aid package to help Colombia in its fight against illegal drugs.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service