Fierce fighting between the Colombian government army and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) over the weekend killed at least 31 people in three regions, said the army.

At least four government soldiers and 27 FARC rebels were killed in the fighting in the provinces of Antioquia, Meta and Arauca, said the army.

The army also seized several weapons, communication equipment and documents of FARC in the weekend's operation.

The Colombian government forces have killed 161 rebels in the military operations started in January this year.

The 20,000-strong FARC is Colombia's largest insurgent organization. Colombia has been locked in a four-decade civil war, the longest in Latin America, in which government forces, leftist guerrillas and far-right paramilitaries fight one another. The conflicts kill more than 3,000 people a year.

(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2005)