By Patrick Markey
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's military said on Saturdaytroops had killed a top rebel commander in an attack on ajungle camp across the border in Ecuador in a severe blow toLatin America's oldest guerrilla insurgency.
Raul Reyes, one of seven members of the secretariat of theRevolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was killed inan operation that included an air strike on a camp and fightingwith rebels across the border, Defence Minister Juan ManuelSantos said.
Reyes was considered by analysts to be the No. 2 FARCcommander and is the most senior member of the group to bekilled in President Alvaro Uribe's U.S.-backed campaign againstthe guerrillas fighting a four-decade-old conflict.
"As a result of this operation, 17 guerrillas were killed.Among them was FARC secretariat member Luis Edgar Devia Silva,better known as Raul Reyes," Santos told reporters.
Colombia's El Tiempo newspaper published on its Web site aphotograph of what it said was Reyes' bloodied corpse in astained white shirt lying on a black body bag.
Santos said intelligence had revealed Reyes' movements nearthe border. After an air strike by the Colombian military,Colombian troops came under fire from guerrillas in Ecuadoreanterritory and they responded. Reyes' body was brought back intoColombia to prevent rebels taking it away, he said.
Uribe contacted Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa toinform him of the operation and Quito sent troops toinvestigate. Venezuela and Ecuador often complain about theguerrilla war spilling over their borders.
Violence from Colombia's conflict has ebbed under Uribe,who has sent troops to retake regions under the control ofarmed groups. But the FARC is still potent in remote areas,where it holds scores of hostages, including three Americansand French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has made freeingBetancourt a priority, urged all sides not to let the killingupset recent efforts to broker a deal to exchange jailedguerrillas for FARC hostages held for years in jungle camps.
SHIFT IN SECRETARIAT
Reyes, bespectacled and bearded, was one of the FARC's toppolitical officers and the group's official spokesman who oftensent statements from the mountains of Colombia. He was knownfor his tough stance in past negotiations with the government.
A diminutive former union boss, Reyes joined the FARC inthe 1970s and was a close associate of aging FARC leader PedroAntonio Marin, also known as "Manuel Marulanda" or "Sureshot."He was involved with Marin's daughter.
"This ends the myth of FARC invulnerability and could causeserious doubts among its troops," said Alfredo Rangel, ananalyst at Security and Democracy Foundation in Bogota.
"It could produce a shift in the secretariat in favor ofmore pragmatic and flexible positions in terms of thehumanitarian exchange and peace negotiations given that Reyesalways maintained a hard line," he said.
The operation against Reyes follows several militarysuccesses against the FARC.
In October, Colombian troops backed by warplanes killedFARC commander Gustavo Rueda Diaz at a base near the Caribbeancoast. A month earlier, they killed Tomas Medina, a seniorrebel involved in arms and drug smuggling near Venezuela.
The FARC started as a peasant army fighting for a socialiststate in the 1960s. Authorities say it is now deeply engaged incocaine trafficking to fund its operations.
(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
