A rebel commander gave the order to kill Antioquia Province Governor Guillermo Gaviria, former Minister Gilberto Echeverri and the others as helicopter-borne troops charged into jungle-clad mountains northwest of the city of Medellin in a daylight attack, officials said.

The dead were among 80 prisoners, including soldiers, congressmen, a former presidential candidate and three US civilian Defence Department contractors, whom the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia wanted to exchange for jailed rebels.

Only three captives held in the jungle camp, all of them soldiers, survived the rescue attempt.

The remaining approximately 70 hostages proposed for a prisoner swap by the rebel army known by the Spanish initials FARC are believed to be held in other parts of Colombia's inaccessible jungles.

The FARC said their captives were killed in cross-fire.

But the government said the guerrillas fled and no shots were fired as 75 troops descended by ropes from helicopters to advance through mountainous jungle in an operation planned over days after an intelligence tip-off.

(China Daily May 7, 2003)