Colombian soldier killed in fresh FARC clash: army

Bogota: A Colombian soldier died during a clash with FARC guerillas, the army has said, as peace talks aimed at ending the decades-long conflict resumed in Cuba.

The solider died of a gunshot wound as he was removing "war material" from a guerrilla base in the central Meta department, according to a statement from the army.

"During the extraction of war material, our soldiers were harassed by FARC guerrillas," the statement said yesterday. The soldier was identified as Wilson Tique.

Leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) fighters have been locked in conflict with Colombian troops for more than five decades, in one of Latin America's longest and bloodiest civil wars.

Peace talks resumed yesterday in Cuba, with both sides pledging to de-escalate the conflict.

The stop-start talks have been ongoing since November 2012, and have made some progress but lack a final agreement.

The war in Colombia has left an estimated 220,000 dead and forced more than six million people from their homes.