Bogota  - Six bus passengers were shot to death after armed criminals stopped a bus travelling in the south-western province of Narino, officials said Thursday.

The thugs stopped the bus on the road between the provincial capital of Pasto and the Pacific harbour town of Tumaco, police said.

They then boarded the bus and read out names from a list, pulled the people from the bus and shot them. The motive for the attack was not known, but the circumstances indicated that right-wing paramilitary fighters were involved.

Bogota  - Five members of the Colombian Air Force (FAC) died Wednesday as the training plane they were travelling in crashed.

The machine had taken off from a FAC base in the municipality of Puerto Salgar and fell to the ground shortly afterwards near La Dorada, in the central Colombian province of Caldas. The causes of the accident were not immediately known.

FAC commander Jorge Ballesteros said the dead included a major, two second lieutenants and two technicians. He said the cause of the crash was being investigated but ruled out sabotage or a rebel attack.

Bogota  - Leftist Colombian rebels admitted in a statement posted on the internet Tuesday to having killed eight members of the indigenous Awa tribe.

But the rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) also blamed the deaths on the Colombian government. FARC said the government is the "executioner" of civilians because it gets them involved in the country's armed conflict.

Colombia's armed forces have long used civilians as informers, to find out details about the presence and movement of rebels.

Sao Paulo  - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Monday congratulated his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez on his referendum victory that removed term limits on his re-election.

"First, congratulations to President Chavez, because he obtained a democratic victory. Second, congratulations to our Venezuelan brothers for practicing democracy. And third, we will hope that antagonisms are overcome in Venezuela," Uribe said.

Bogota  - Four mine

Bogota  - After releasing six hostages last week, leftist Colombian rebels insisted on an exchange of prisoners with the Colombian government, according to messages made public Monday.

In the message, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said it considered the 22 politically-relevant hostages it is still holding as well as FARC prisoners in Colombian jails to be "prisoners of war."