BOGOTA, Colombia, Oct. 19 -- An army helicopter crashed today while providing air support to police under attack from leftist guerrillas, the military said.
Several of the four crew members aboard the U.S.-built Black Hawk were killed, but the military could not immediately say how many. Officials insisted the sophisticated, heavily armored helicopter had not been shot down.
The army attributed the crash, in mountains near the town of Dabeiba in northwest Antioquia state, to a heavy tail wind. It did not immediately provide details.
Colombia's army air wing purchased the Black Hawk from the U.S. government, according to an army colonel who asked not to be identified. He said it was equipped with a .50-caliber machine gun.
Black Hawk helicopters are a key weapon in Colombia's arsenal against the guerrillas, and the most expensive component of a recently approved $1.3 billion U.S. aid package. The helicopters included in the plan have yet to be delivered.
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Dabeiba was one of two northern towns attacked Wednesday by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's largest leftist insurgency.
One of Dabeiba's 30 police officers died in the attack, officials said, and heavy fighting continued today.
The FARC routinely attack rural police posts in overwhelming numbers, peppering them with homemade missiles, and either killing the outgunned officers or taking them prisoner.
The surge in fighting comes ahead of nationwide local elections Oct. 29, which rebels and right-wing paramilitary groups might try to disrupt.
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