10 Colombian soldiers killed in FARC attack

At least 10 Colombian soldiers have been killed and nearly 20 others injured in an attack on a garrison blamed on rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as FARC.

According to a Wednesday statement by the Colombian military, the deadly assault was carried out in a small town in the southwestern province of Cauca when the soldiers were on a routine patrol.

A guerrilla unit of FARC ambushed the troops around midnight Tuesday, the military added.

Governor Temistocles Ortega also confirmed the attack and added that four of the injured soldiers are in serious condition.

The new killings come amid peace talks between the rebels and the Colombian government. In December 2014, FARC launched an indefinite, unilateral ceasefire in an effort to boost the talks, which began in Havana in November 2012. Bogota, in response, has halted all air raids on rebel encampments.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, meanwhile, extended his condolences to the families of the victims and said in a message posted on Twitter, “This is precisely why we want to end the war.”

The peace talks have so far produced only partial accords on several issues but have yet to yield a final deal at ending a half-century-old conflict between the rebels and the government.

FARC is Latin America’s oldest rebel group and has been fighting the government since 1964.

The rebel organization is thought to have around 8,000 fighters operating across a large swathe of the eastern jungles of the Andean country.

The five-decade-long conflict in Colombia has led to the death of over 200,000 people while more than five million people have been uprooted.

MR/HSN/SS

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