FARC 'plotted plane attack'

The FARC has waged a 38-year war in Colombia

The authorities in Colombia say the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), planned to launch a suicide airplane attack on either the presidential palace or the parliament building.

The attack was allegedly planned for 20 July, Colombia's Independence Day, or 7 August, inauguration day for President-elect Alvaro Uribe, secret police chief Colonel German Gustavo Jaramillo said.

Uribe takes office next month

Colonel Jaramillo said the information had come from the questioning of Jorge Enrique Carvajalino, who was captured 18 July.

Mr Carvajalino, the police chief said, was a member of the elite leadership of the FARC.

The Marxist movement has been fighting a 38-year war against Colombia's central government.

The right-wing Mr Uribe, who takes over the presidency from Andres Pastrana, has vowed to crack down on the rebels.

Paid pilot

Colonel Jaramillo said Mr Carvajalino was the "brains of the attack".

The secret police chief said that a pilot with connections to drug runners had allegedly agreed to fly the plane for $2m.

And he said the FARC had planned to steal an aircraft either in the capital, Bogota, or in the coastal city of Baranquilla.

But the plan was "prematurely aborted" when Mr Carvajalino was arrested in Bogota, Colonel Jaramillo added.

Air Force commander General Hector Fabio Velasco has confirmed that Colombia has asked for help from the United States to guard against terrorist attacks from the air during the new president's inauguration.

And there have been reports over the past two months of mysterious unidentified aircraft flying into Bogota airspace but fleeing before Colombian air force jets could intercept them.