BOGOTA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Fifteen Colombian soldiers and three civilian crew members were killed when their plane crashed earlier this week in the jungles just south of the Andes mountains, the army said on Thursday.

Authorities are investigating why the two-engine Let-410 aircraft went down on Monday during a routine 25-minute flight from city of Villavicencio to the town of Uribe in Meta province.

The wreckage was found early on Thursday by a helicopter search party, which reported no signs of survivors. The civilian aircraft had been hired by the army to transport soldiers.

Meta is a central Colombian province where leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary gangs grow coca used to make the cocaine that fuels this country's 4-decade-old guerrilla war.

The government is calling the crash an accident as there is no evidence that the plane came under attack from any of the illegal militias operating in the region.

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