BOGOTA, Sept. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States requested Colombia to extradite another chief of the illegal armed group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), official sources of the Colombian government said Tuesday.

    Second top chief of the AUC Jesus Giraldo Serna, whose alias was Mono Viejo, was accused by Washington of producing and trafficking drugs to the United States from January 1998 to March 2004, said the sources.

    The Colombian government earlier Tuesday authorized the extradition of Juan C. Sierra of the AUC.

    Both Serna's brother and Sierra participated in the ongoing peace negotiations with the Colombian government beginning in July.It is said the US government will also seek to extradite AUC's topleader Salvatore Mancuso.

    Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said the extradition of these paramilitary leaders was not part of the negotiations with the AUC.

    The right-wing AUC was created to attack leftist guerrillas whohave been fighting with Colombia's government for 40 years. But the AUC and other rightist paramilitaries quickly began a war of their own and finance themselves through drug trafficking and extortion. Enditem