The strikes -- which targeted a dissident ex-FARC splinter group -- came as President Gustavo Petro faces pre-election criticism and US sanctions for his alleged reluctance to target armed cocaine-trafficking groups.

Admiral Francisco Cubides said the strikes occurred "at dawn on November 10" and resulted in "19 terrorists killed," as well as one person captured and military equipment seized.

He said the airstrike was a response to an "imminent" rebel attack on military targets.

Petro said he ordered the "bombing and military dissolution" of the group led by the country's most wanted rebel, a fighter with the alias Ivan Mordisco, after failed peace negotiations.

Mordisco leads the Central General Staff (EMC), a faction that rejected the 2016 peace deal with the Colombian government.

The EMC has grown in power since the FARC's disarmament, exploiting remote areas through drug trafficking, extortion, and illegal mining, according to experts.