Colombian troops accidentally kill 10 police

BOGOTA, Colombia - A Colombian army patrol accidentally killed 10 police officers engaged in an undercover operation in one of the country's worst "friendly fire" incidents, authorities said on Monday.

A civilian was also shot dead by the army patrol.

The deadly confusion just days before elections dealt a blow to President Alvaro Uribe who has led a military crackdown on left-wing FARC rebels, rightist paramilitary militia and the cocaine trade that illegal armed groups use for financing.

"In the course of army and police operations ... there was a incident involving the security forces during which 10 police and one civilian were killed," Defence Minister Camilo Ospina told reporters.

The incident took place in a rural region of Valle province, where drug traffickers and the 17,000-strong Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, the country's largest left-wing rebel group, are active.

Uribe, a Washington ally whose government has received billions of dollars in US anti-drug and military aid, is popular for reducing crime and kidnapping in the cities and is expected to win re-election in Sunday's ballot.

But thousands of people are still killed or forced from their homes each year by illegal armed groups who control large parts of Colombia's rural countryside and jungle.

Uribe was elected in 2002 promising to smash the insurgency by the FARC. Since then his government has demobilized 30,000 right-wing militia fighters and started talks with the smaller ELN rebel group. But the FARC will not negotiate.

Colombia's security forces have been involved in eight so-called friendly fire incidents since 2004 that have killed 32 soldiers or police officers and five civilians.

Uribe's critics say increased government pressure for results from his security forces has triggered friendly fire incidents and human rights abuses against civilians caught up the conflict.

- REUTERS