A former Cabinet minister said Friday he escaped from six years in rebel captivity by fleeing through the jungle after troops attacked the guerrillas who held him.

``When the gunfight began, I told myself either I go now or they kill me,'' former Development Minister Fernando Araujo told RCN television before being reunited with his family. ``It was a decision of life and death.''

Araujo said he walked five days through mountainous jungle after escaping Sunday from a guerrilla camp as army and marine troops battled members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. He was found by troops in the hamlet of San Agustin, 350 miles north of Bogota.

Araujo said he was in good health, but suffering from hiccups and exhaustion because he had not eaten in five days.

``I escaped five days ago with only the clothes I was wearing, not a drop of water, without a blanket, without a machete - only with my fingernails to find the route that would return me to freedom,'' he said.

Araujo was kidnapped on Dec. 5, 2000, while exercising in the Caribbean coastal city of Cartagena.

President Alvaro Uribe said an informant's tip led the military to the guerrilla camp and that the decision to launch a raid was authorized by Araujo's family.

Six guerrillas died in the battle, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said.

Araujo said he was the only hostage held at the camp and knew nothing about the fate of some 60 other political hostages the rebel group, also known as FARC, hopes to swap for hundreds of jailed rebels.

Among those being held are former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three American defense contractors kidnapped when their plane crashed in the jungle during an anti-narcotics mission in 2003.

The FARC has been trying to overthrow Colombia's government for almost a half-century and has kidnapped thousands of people for ransom.