Bogota, May 6 (EFE).- Army troops killed seven FARC guerrillas and captured an eighth in fighting in southwestern Colombia over the weekend, a high-level military commander said. The dead guerrillas belonged to the 29th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Southwestern Joint Command chief Gen. Leonardo Barrero Gordillo told Efe. The fighting occurred Saturday in Leyva, a village on the border between Cauca and Nariño provinces, Barrero said in a telephone interview.

Colombian guerrilla leaders convicted of war crimes or crimes against humanity could get suspended sentences if government and rebel negotiators reach a peace accord, an official said Monday. The two sides have been negotiating in Havana since late last year to try to end Latin America's last and longest insurgency, one that has ground on for nearly 50 years and claimed an estimated 600,000 lives. Most of the leaders of the leftist rebel group FARC have already been tried and convicted in absentia of a variety of crimes, but none for crimes against humanity or war crimes.

Bogota, Apr 10 (EFE).- The smaller of Colombia's two main guerrilla groups said Wednesday that Canada's Braeval Mining Corporation must give up its concessions in the Andean nation to secure the release of an executive grabbed by the rebels in January. The National Liberation Army, or ELN, also cautioned Colombian authorities not attempt a military operation to rescue Canadian engineer Gernot Erich Wober, vice president of Braeval subcontractor Geo Explorer.

The Colombian government and leftist FARC rebels on Saturday suspended peace talks for three weeks, though their technical teams will continue to work together, according to a statement. "After a series of meetings during the days of Holy Week, the delegations of the national government and the FARC agreed to resume talks in the third week of April," said a joint statement emailed to AFP in Havana.