Bogota - One police officer, two members of the military and three leftist rebels were killed Monday in seperate incidents in Colombia, authorities said. In the north-eastern province of North of Santander, on the border to Venezuela, two soldiers and three rebels died in a clash.
The army was taking part in an operation to eradicate coca leaf crops protected by the leftist rebel groups Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN) near the municipalities of Tibu and El Tarra.
The local army commander, General Paulino Coronado, said the troops reached rebel camps in a remote area of the Catatumbo region, near the Venezuelan border.
In a separate incident, a police officer died and two others were injured in an attack by alleged FARC rebels in the north-western province of Antioquia. A surveillance patrol was attacked on a road in the banana-growing region of Uraba, on the border to Panama.
Late Sunday, two police officers suffered slight wounds in an attack - also blamed on FARC - against a power station in the south- western province of Huila.
The Army said Monday that it confiscated explosives and anti- personnel landmines from FARC in the provinces of Cesar, Cauca, Meta and Antioquia.
