By IANS
Bogota : At least seven Colombian soldiers have been killed and six injured in an attack by separatist guerrillas on an army patrol in central Tolima province, Spanish news agency EFE reported Monday.
According to the Colombian Army spokesman, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Saturday killed the soldiers by detonating a bomb as the patrol of the 8th Mobile Brigade was passing by.
“A non-commissioned officer and six soldiers from the Caicero battalion were killed,” Commander Gen Mario Montoya told reporters Sunday after visiting the scene of the attack. He also confirmed that six troopers were injured in the strike.
A team of 15 soldiers, searching for a kidnapped businessman, strayed into a minefield laid by the rebels along a road linking the towns of Olaya Herrera and Ortega.
Taking advantage of an initial explosion, the rebels opened fire on the patrol and killed seven soldiers and injuring six.
During the gun battle, the soldiers shot three rebels, including Dario Cesar Restrepo, the head of the FARC’s 21st front.
FARC, which has around 12,000-18,000 members, is the largest and best-equipped rebel group of Colombia. It is also considered as one of the world’s richest and most powerful guerrilla armies. It operates in almost half of the country and is financing itself mainly through extortion, kidnapping ransoms and drug trafficking.
In 1999, then Colombian President Andres Pastrana started peace negotiations with FARC. But the peace talks ended in 2002 and Pastrana ordered Colombian forces to start military operation against the rebel group.
The Colombian government and the FARC, with the mediation of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombian lawmaker Piedad Cordoba, have been seeking to work out a humanitarian accord that is expected to facilitate exchange of prisoners.