Colombia says Ecuadorean killed in anti-rebel raid

By Hugh Bronstein

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Already tense relations between Colombia and Ecuador looked set to worsen on Sunday after Colombia said it had killed a citizen of the neighboring country in a March 1 attack on Ecuador's side of the border.

Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa, has vowed that relations with Colombia would be downgraded if it turned out that one of the people killed in the diplomatically charged operation was a citizen of his country.

"He was Ecuadorean," Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told reporters on Sunday, ending the speculation.

A statement from the ministry said the dead man appeared to be a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, who specialized in helping Marxist guerrillas cross into Ecuador to hide.

"I ask the Ecuadorean authorities to not let themselves be taken advantage of by criminals," Santos said.

Ecuador broke off diplomatic ties with Bogota over the raid that killed No. 2 FARC rebel leader Raul Reyes and more than 20 others. Colombia's conservative president, Alvaro Uribe, issued a statement on Sunday saying the raid was necessary to protect his country from "terrorist" attacks.

The diplomatic crisis, which briefly threatened war as Ecuador and Venezuela sent troops to their borders with Colombia, eased at a summit meeting where leaders of the three countries aired their differences and shook hands.

Then last week family members of an Ecuadorean man said he was among those killed in the raid. Correa ordered a probe, saying he would "not let this murder go unpunished."