Colombia Fighting Forces Civilians to Flee

People and children distribute clothes and blankets in a plaza in Bosa, south Bogota. They are part of a group of Colombia who say they have fled to the country's capital, running from the violence that rages through much of the countryside. Monday, July 17, 2006. The group of about 600 people have been camped out in the plaza for six days demanding government aid. (AP Photo/William Fernando Martinez) (William Fernando Martinez - AP)

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Fighting between the army and leftist guerrillas in western Colombia has forced hundreds of civilians from their homes and trapped others in their villages, the United Nations said Tuesday.

In Narino province, near the southern border with Ecuador, more than 1,300 people have fled since fighting broke out last week between the army and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Latin America's oldest and best-equipped guerrilla force.

"With combat ongoing, thousands more people could be at risk of forced displacement in the next few days," the U.N. High Commission for Refugees said in a statement.

Most of the displaced are being sheltered and given medical treatment by the Roman Catholic Church and local authorities in Ricuarte, 340 miles southwest of Bogota.

The U.N. agency said it was "very concerned" about the fate of 92 Awa Indians who have been stuck in a village school with little food for days for fear of being caught in the exchange of gunfire.

In the jungle province of Choco near the border with Panama, an incursion by a FARC column last week also placed civilians at risk, including 137 Embera Indians whose community is being blockaded.

The U.N. said the remoteness of the area, which is accessible only by boat, made it difficult to verify reports that several civilians had been killed while working at plantations along the Trunado River.

The U.N. estimates that about 3 million Colombians have been displaced by the four-decade conflict between leftist rebels, the government and far-right paramilitaries _ more than any other country except Sudan. The government puts their number at fewer than 2 million.