BBC Monday, 29 October, 2001, 02:23 GMT

Irishman shot dead in Colombia

The army had engaged with ELN guerrillas By Jeremy McDermott

The Colombian army say they have found the body of an Irishman after a gun battle with left-wing guerrillas in the northern province of Choco.

They say it is unclear whether the man was fighting with the Marxist guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) or had been kidnapped by them.

Army sources say they are checking with British and Irish authorities to see if the dead man had any known connection to the three Irishmen arrested here in August, on terrorism charges.

The three men are suspected of having links with the IRA.

No kidnap reported

The Colombian authorities identified the man as Jeremy Parks.

Mr Parks had entered the country legally on 15 September and had a 60-day visa.

His passport bore stamps from Ecuador - from where he had entered Colombia - as well as Peru and Cuba.

It is unknown what he might have been doing in the remote northern province of Choco, one of Colombia's poorest, on the country's Pacific coast.

General Nestor Ramirez, the army's second in command, who made a statement on the discovery of Mr Parks, said it was not clear whether the Irishman had been voluntarily with the ELN or had been captured by them.

However, there had been no reports of a kidnapping.

Safe haven closed

The authorities are investigating whether there might be any link with the three alleged IRA members now in detention.

James Monaghan, Martin McCauley and Niall Connolly were arrested as they left the safe haven of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the south of the country.

They have been charged with training rebels in explosives and terrorism.

Irish lawyers for the three alleged IRA men have been denied access to the guerrilla safe haven.

Due to the arrest of the Irishmen and reports of other foreigners training the FARC, the safe haven has been banned to all foreigners except those that get a permit from the Colombian peace commissioner, and the lawyers for the Irishmen have been denied the permit.

-- Anonymous, October 28, 2001