Colombians Destroy Cocaine Lab

BOGOTA, Colombia — Army commandos destroyed a clandestine drug laboratory, seized 1,100 pounds of cocaine and arrested 13 people after a firefight with leftist rebels in southwest Colombia on Tuesday.

Gen. Jaime Ernesto Canal, head of the army’s 3rd Brigade, said the sprawling complex was found in a rural area near the town of Santander de Quilichao in Cauca province. No deaths were reported in the clash with a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrilla unit.

Local news reports said the people captured at the complex, including a 14-year-old boy, were guerrilla fighters, but Canal did not confirm that. More than 100 barrels of chemicals used to process cocaine were also seized.

Colombian and U.S. officials accuse FARC, Colombia’s oldest and largest rebel group, of wide-scale links to drug trafficking, charges the rebels deny.