President Alvaro Uribe held an emergency meeting with his military commanders Saturday _ discussions that came as the rebels claimed to have killed nine more soldiers in a two-week campaign that claimed the lives of about 50 government troops. A communique by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said Saturday the nine soldiers were killed during an attack on an army patrol near the northwestern village of La Sombra de Anori on Monday. Two rebels were killed in the assault, the communique said. There was no immediate confirmation by the army of the attack or fatalities. The FARC assaults over the past two weeks have shaken confidence in government claims that it has the upper hand in the battle against Marxist guerillas that have waged a deadly, 40-year war against successive governments in Bogota. The rebel attacks began on Feb. 1, when the FARC fired rockets into a military post in southwest Colombia, killing 16 marines and injuring 25. The next day, eight soldiers were killed in south-central Colombia when their vehicle was hit by rebel explosives. This week, the rebels killed 19 army soldiers in a firelight in northwest Colombia.
