UPDATE 1-Colombian Feb industrial output up 14.55 pct yr/yr

(Adds data, background)

BOGOTA, April 19 (Reuters) - Colombia's industrial production rose 14.55 percent in February compared with a year earlier, the National Statistics Department said on Thursday.

Colombian industrial production grew 14.15 percent in the first two months of the year versus the same 2006 period, a statement from the department said.

Industrial production climbed 11.07 percent in 2006 versus 2005, reflecting this Andean country's economic pickup under President Alvaro Uribe, whose policies have attracted investment.

Uribe is popular for cutting crime as part of his U.S.-backed crackdown on drug-running leftist rebels fighting a four-decade-old insurgency.