Five Colombian troops killed in rebel mine blast

BOGOTA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Five Colombian soldiers were killed and two were wounded on Wednesday when their patrol walked into a minefield set up by leftist rebels in a mountainous southern province, the army said.

Mines kill or maim on average three people a day in Colombia, where left-wing rebels are fighting a four-decade-old insurgency fueled by the Andean nation's huge cocaine trade.

The army said two officers and three troops were killed when they set off the mines laid by the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, near Buga, about 160 miles (250 km) south of Bogota.

Backed by U.S.-financing, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has sent troops to retake areas once controlled by armed groups. Violence has dropped sharply, but hundreds of troops and police and rebels are still killed in combat each year.