Security forces in Colombia in pursuit of a guerrilla column say they have killed twenty-six of the rebels and captured thirty-six others.

All belong to the left-wing guerrilla group -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Its members were said to have left a government-granted safe haven last week to travel north in support of other rebel units.

The military says some of the prisoners they're holding are as young as eleven. FARC says they don't recruit anyone under the age of fifteen but youngsters who have joined up themselves are returned to their families.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service