March 3, 2008 President of Ecuador sends troops to Colombia's border

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez ordered tanks and thousands of troops on Sunday to the border with Colombia, accusing it of pushing South America to the brink of war by killing a top rebel leader on Ecuadorean soil.

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa also ordered troops to the Colombian border, saying "Ecuadorean territory has been outraged and bombed by an air attack and the later incursion of (Colombian) troops."

On Saturday, Colombian security forces killed senior rebel leader Raul Reyes and 16 other Colombian guerrillas at a camp across the border in Ecuador.

Correa said on Saturday that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had informed him of the raid, but later announced that he was misled after Ecuadorean officials inspected a bombed rebel camp.

Colombian officials have long complained that Ecuador's military does not control its sparsely populated border, allowing rebels to take refuge on its territory.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)