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29 March 2024

Colombia army kills 31 leftist rebels

Published
By AFP

Colombian troops killed 31 FARC leftist rebels and wounded three others during a gun battle in the country's Arauca province, military officials said on Wednesday.

General Ernesto Maldonado, who heads the army division responsible for the eastern Colombian region bordering Venezuela, said the rebels were killed during a pre-dawn military offensive.

The clash occurred in the same area where over the weekend rebels with the FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) ambushed an army unit, killing 11 soldiers.

Maldonado added that three other rebels were killed in Arauca Tuesday in confrontations with the army and four were captured.

In a Twitter message earlier Wednesday, President Juan Manuel Santos hailed what he called "a huge blow against the FARC in Arauca where they killed our soldiers," and gave a preliminary estimate of 24 rebels killed.

The violence follows FARC rebel overtures -- deemed insufficient by the government -- to make peace with the Bogota government.

The FARC officially renounced abduction of civilians late last month, but still holds 10 members of Colombian security forces, though it has pledged to release them soon.

Santos has said he would open a direct dialogue with the FARC only when all hostages are released and the group vows to cease "terrorist" actions. He also wants the FARC to stop recruiting children.

The FARC, believed to have 8,000 members, has been at war with the government since 1964. It began a campaign of kidnappings in the mid-1980s, seizing army hostages to serve as bargaining chips for FARC prisoners.