Pubdate: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 Source: CNN (US Web) Copyright: 2001 Cable News Network, Inc. Contact: http://www.cnn.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/65 Author: Reuters COLOMBIAN REBELS THREATEN U.S. CIVILIAN "MERCENARIES" BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- Colombia's largest leftist guerrilla group warned on Wednesday it would attack American civilian "mercenaries" who take part in military operations in the South American nation's long-running war. The 17,000-member FARC, Latin America's most powerful and oldest surviving rebel army, has in the past declared U.S. military personnel deployed in Colombia "military targets." But in an interview posted on the rebels' Web site, FARC spokesman Carlos Antonio Lozada said the threat extended to U.S. "mercenaries" hired for military operations in Colombia. "U.S. advisers or military personnel, including those directly in the U.S. Armed Forces or mercenaries hired by firms to carry out military operations on Colombian soil, run the risk of becoming at any time victims of military actions by the Colombian insurgency," Lozada was quoted as saying. The warning came after a helicopter under contract by the U.S. State Department carrying American civilians hired for anti-drug operations was fired upon by FARC rebels in February during an operation to rescue Colombian anti-narcotics agents in the southern Caqueta region. Washington has not said how many U.S. citizens were involved in the rescue operation, but the incident raised fears of U.S. citizens getting involved in Colombia's 37-year-old rebel conflict. The war, which pits rebel groups against the army and outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups, has killed nearly 40,000 people -- mostly civilians -- in the last 10 years. The United States is committing $1 billion to stamp out the cocaine industry in the Andean nation, the world's largest producer of the drug. The funds are mainly going for combat helicopters and to train Colombian anti-narcotics battalions for operations against rebel-held crops in southern Colombia. Some 200 U.S. military personnel are involved in the training of Colombian army battalions for the anti-drug push, and U.S. officials have repeatedly said that the American troops will not be involved directly in the war. About 30 American civilians are involved in counter-narcotics missions in Colombia, hired by DynCorp, a major Pentagon contractor based in Reston, Virginia, that provides crop duster and helicopter pilots, mechanics and paramedics as part of the U.S. aid package. - --- MAP posted-by: GD