Colombia to investigate army's 'body count' policy

By Hugh Bronstein

BOGOTA, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Some Colombian army officers are pressuring soldiers to kill people in combat as proof of their success in fighting illegal militias, a practice that may have caused rights abuses, the government admitted on Friday.

The statement by Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos was the first acknowledgment by the U.S.-backed government that complaints long made by human rights groups may be accurate.

The groups say President Alvaro Uribe's all-out military push against leftist rebels and other cocaine-funded groups has resulted in noncombatant civilians being shot by soldiers and passed off as guerrillas killed in battle.

Santos' comments come during a outcry over the deaths of at least 19 young men who the army said died in combat but whose families say were never involved in Colombia's conflict.

"There is a strange situation here, one that requires a lot of explaining," Santos said in a speech to military cadets. "I am told that there are still officers in our public security forces who require dead bodies as proof of results."

Santos, a possible presidential candidate in 2010, said he is ordering an investigation.

"The fact that Minister Santos is willing to publicly acknowledge this very serious problem is the first step the government needs to take in addressing it," said Jose Miguel Vivanco of New York-based Human Rights Watch.

"The 'body count' mentality has unfortunately been practiced by several Colombian military units for quite some time, even though President Uribe has consistently denied that these atrocities are being committed," Vivanco said.

Uribe's security policies are popular for pushing the rebels onto the defensive and opening the economy to investment. But Colombia remains the world's biggest cocaine producer and the war still claims hundreds of lives per year.

The 19 youths were recruited near the capital, Bogota, by mysterious men promising jobs in the northeast of the country. Their bodies were found this month in mass graves.

"It is likely that they were recruited to work on coca plantations or in cocaine laboratories," said Cesar Restrepo, an analyst with Bogota think tank Security and Democracy.

"It is clear that they were killed by the army. But under what circumstances? Were they shot in combat or executed?" (Editing by Eric Walsh)