Four rebels killed in Colombia clashes: government

Four leftist FARC guerrillas have been killed in recent clashes in Colombia's southern Putumayo province, which borders Ecuador and Peru, authorities have said.

The rebels were killed in a rural area near Puerto Leguizamo during a military operation in which five people were taken prisoner, including three minors, an Ecuadoran and an Indian, the government said in a statement yesterday.

The latest casualties of Colombia's almost half century old insurgency came despite recent signs of progress in peace talks in Havana between the government and the FARC.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is the country's largest guerrilla group with some 8,000 fighters.