At least 18 right-wing paramilitaries were killed in clashes with members of a joint unit of Colombia's two main leftist guerrilla groups, an official said. Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) joined together in an onslaught on operatives of the united self-defence forces of Colombia (AUC) on Thursday, according to the official. The bodies of the paramilitaries were found on a road side at Dagua, 450 kilometers southwest of Bogota, peace negotiator Fabio Cardoso told radio Caracol. The killings came one day after President Andres Pastrana broke off peace talks with FARC, Colombia's largest insurgency, suspending the status of the rebels' safe haven in southern Colombia, and ordered a military offensive in the region. Pastrana's decision came after suspected FARC rebels hijacked a passenger plane in an apparent attempt to kidnap a senator.
Colombia's nearly four-decade-long civil war has pitted the 16,500-strong FARC and the 4,500-member ELN against the government and the paramilitaries. Some 200,000 people have been killed in the ongoing clashes since 1964.

Bureau Report