Coca plants to go at death site

BOGOTA - Colombia will manually destroy all plants used to make cocaine around one of the country's biggest natural parks where 29 soldiers were killed in combat with drug-running Marxist rebels, President Alvaro Uribe says.

The day after the battle near Macarena National Park in Meta province between soldiers on a coca plant eradication mission and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, Uribe vowed new efforts to defeat "these miserable terrorists financed by the narcotics trade".

The death toll was the worst suffered by the military since Uribe was elected in 2002 on promises of smashing the decades-old insurgency.

The Macarena anti-coca offensive will start on January 20, the President told journalists.

"The world needs to know that natural parks like the Macarena have been totally violated by the Farc," Uribe said.

"More than 60 eradication groups will concentrate on Macarena National Park. They will not leave until they have manually eradicated every last coca plant."

Most of Colombia's coca eradication is done by spraying chemicals from airplanes.

But police do it by hand in the national parks, citing environmental concerns.

- REUTERS