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Sixty killed in Colombian military offensive
Bogota, Colombia, Feb 23: Colombia`s army clashed with leftist rebels and far-right paramilitary gunmen in separate battles over the weekend that left 60 dead, one of the highest body counts in months, the army said.
Bogota, Colombia, Feb 23: Colombia's army clashed with leftist rebels and far-right paramilitary gunmen in separate battles over the weekend that left 60 dead, one of the highest body counts in months, the army said.
The most heated combat took place yesterday in a cattle ranching
region of Casanare province, about 300 km northeast of Bogota, where
the army intercepted a paramilitary caravan. Soldiers killed 21
paramilitary outlaws and captured three others, the army said in a
statement.
Ten Colombian soldiers were killed in that offensive, while other fighting across the country left 28 rebels and another paramilitary fighter dead.
Since taking office in August 2002, President Alvaro Uribe has put more troops on the ground, reduced the number of kidnappings and pushed the rebels into a tactical retreat. Still, violence continues and the messy, three-way conflict between the Colombian armed forces, the paramilitaries and Marxist rebels claims thousands of lives every year.
Uribe, a close US ally, has opened controversial talks to demobilize 20,000 paramilitary gunmen -- branded ''terrorists'' by Washington. But until they retire from the conflict, Uribe promises to intensify attacks on the outlaws, who target leftist rebels and are blamed for some of the worst atrocities in the Colombia's four-decade-old guerrilla war.
The far-right fighters committed at least a dozen massacres between December 2002 to December 2003, according to government figures. Paramilitary bosses, wanted in the United States on drug trafficking charges, are calling for an amnesty deal as part of any accord to demobilize their men.
Beyond the Casanare combat, the army said in a statement that it killed another paramilitary fighter and captured three other right-wing gunmen in Risaralda province, west of Bogota, in an army operation dubbed ''mouth of fire”. The Colombian army said in a statement that it killed 17 members of the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia, or FARC, in Antioquia province. The 17,000-member guerrilla army, funded partly by ''taxing'' the country's cocaine trade, also lost four fighters in Meta province, the army said.
Seven guerrillas with the smaller, Cuban-inspired National Liberation Army were also killed in scattered weekend fighting, the army said, without immediately providing any way to verify the figures.
Bureau Report
Ten Colombian soldiers were killed in that offensive, while other fighting across the country left 28 rebels and another paramilitary fighter dead.
Since taking office in August 2002, President Alvaro Uribe has put more troops on the ground, reduced the number of kidnappings and pushed the rebels into a tactical retreat. Still, violence continues and the messy, three-way conflict between the Colombian armed forces, the paramilitaries and Marxist rebels claims thousands of lives every year.
Uribe, a close US ally, has opened controversial talks to demobilize 20,000 paramilitary gunmen -- branded ''terrorists'' by Washington. But until they retire from the conflict, Uribe promises to intensify attacks on the outlaws, who target leftist rebels and are blamed for some of the worst atrocities in the Colombia's four-decade-old guerrilla war.
The far-right fighters committed at least a dozen massacres between December 2002 to December 2003, according to government figures. Paramilitary bosses, wanted in the United States on drug trafficking charges, are calling for an amnesty deal as part of any accord to demobilize their men.
Beyond the Casanare combat, the army said in a statement that it killed another paramilitary fighter and captured three other right-wing gunmen in Risaralda province, west of Bogota, in an army operation dubbed ''mouth of fire”. The Colombian army said in a statement that it killed 17 members of the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia, or FARC, in Antioquia province. The 17,000-member guerrilla army, funded partly by ''taxing'' the country's cocaine trade, also lost four fighters in Meta province, the army said.
Seven guerrillas with the smaller, Cuban-inspired National Liberation Army were also killed in scattered weekend fighting, the army said, without immediately providing any way to verify the figures.
Bureau Report