Colombian rebels kill 14 troops in ambush

The soldiers were hunting for rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's largest guerrilla group, after receiving information they were about to attack a small town in southern Meta department.

"The troops went to intercept the guerrillas, found a camp in the jungle and were attacked. In the combat two officers and 12 troops were killed and an undetermined number of rebels," Armed Forces Commander Gen. Freddy Padilla told reporters.

Uribe, who receives millions of dollars in U.S. military aid each year, has pushed the left-wing FARC back into the jungles and mountains and reduced violence and kidnapping that once plagued cities, towns and major highways.

But with as many as 17,000 fighters still roaming rural Colombia, the FARC has shown it remains a potent force financed in part by the country's huge cocaine trade.

Last month, hundreds of guerrillas attacked a rural hamlet police station and killed at least 16 officers. The police post had only recently set up in an area that once was controlled by illegal paramilitaries who have demobilized in a peace deal.

A month later 17 soldiers were killed in a rebel attack on their patrol.

The latest assault came just days after Uribe's government renewed an offer to enter talks with the FARC over the release of hostages the guerrillas are holding, including three US military contract workers captured on an anti-drug mission.