Elite Colombian troops have entered rebel territory, the vanguard in an assault by thousands of soldiers sent to retake the zone after President Andres Pastrana canceled peace talks.

At least two hundred soldiers -- armed with assault rifles, grenade launchers and machine guns -- flew into an abandoned army base in southern Colombia early today (Friday) aboard 10 U.S.-made Black Hawk helicopters.

The soldiers encountered little resistance as they arrived on the outskirts of San Vicente de Caguan, the largest town in the former rebel safe haven. The blacked-out town had its power cut hours before the troops arrived.

On Thursday, the Colombian military flew hundreds of bombing sorties in the zone.

The military operation is part of a government offensive to retake an area that President Andres Pastrana had ceded to the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- or FARC -- in 1998, in an effort to promote peace talks.

Mr. Pastrana broke off peace talks Wednesday, angered by the guerrilla hijacking of a civilian airliner and the kidnapping of a prominent senator.

The war pits the FARC and a smaller rebel force (the National Liberation Army) against the government and a right-wing paramilitary group. The conflict has left at least 40-thousand people dead in the past decade.

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