7 soldiers, 11 rebels killed in Colombian clashes
Seven government soldiers and at least 11 guerrillas died in fighting this weekend in Puerto Rico, the Colombian province of Meta, about 300 km south of Bogota, the military said on Sunday.

Gen. Alejandro Navas, who leads the Omega joint task force, told reporters that the government troops had been engaged in fierce fighting with a large group of guerillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) since Saturday.

"We recovered 11 (rebel) bodies, which is nothing compared to the number who fell down. We know from observations and the blood trails, there were more," Navas said, showing reporters rebel bodies in black bags at a local army base in Meta.

The dead will be flown to Villavicencio, the capital of Meta, 113 km southeast of Bogota, he said.

The latest violence is part of a government campaign that began in 2002, after the election of Alvaro Uribe as Colombian president, to drive FARC out of towns and villages and back into the jungle.

FARC, which began operating in the mid-1960s, remains strong but violence in the nation has reduced. Uribe was reelected in 2006 due in large part to this fact.

Critics, however, say his offensive has failed to curb rights abuses and stem violence by right-wing paramilitary militias, who once fought the guerrillas but agreed to give up their guns in a peace deal with the government.