SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Colombia tensions rise with 3 rebels killed in military bombing
Bogota, Feb 1 (AFP) Feb 01, 2018
Tensions between Colombia's government and a hold-out rebel group, the ELN, rose Thursday when officials said three of the guerrillas were killed in the bombing of a camp in the northwest of the country.

The offensive, part of wider crackdown ordered by President Juan Manuel Santos following a string of deadly attacks on police stations blamed on the ELN, was another blow to peace efforts with the group that have been frozen.

The attack occurred Monday on a jungle camp close to the San Juan river, in the Choco region close to Panama, the commander of joint military operations, General Jorge Arturo Salgado, told reporters.

A national group representing indigenous communities accused the military of wounding a civilian child in the bombing.

But the head of Colombia's military forces, General Alberto Mejia, told radio outlets the child had been recruited by the ELN and said civilians had not been harmed.

Santos on Monday suspended peace talks with the ELN, the National Liberation Army, after bombs last weekend targeted three police stations, killing seven officers and wounding dozens more.

There are fears the developments could re-ignite an armed conflict that had been on the path to peaceful resolution following a historic November 2016 peace deal with Colombia's biggest insurgent group, the FARC.

The FARC has since disarmed and transformed itself into a political party, keeping the same acronym.

The UN is monitoring the peace process in Colombia, which is designed to put an end to a half-century conflict.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Bioplastic habitats could sustain algae growth for space colonization
Boeing expands SES O3b mPOWER fleet with latest satellite delivery
China launches international association to boost global access to deep space research

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Growing evidence for evolving Dark Energy could inspire a new model of the Universe
UK lab promises air-con revolution without polluting gases
Bezos-backed methane-tracking satellite lost in space

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Planet secures 240 million euro satellite services contract with German government
Sceye secures SoftBank backing to launch HAPS connectivity services in Japan
Khamenei seen publicly for first time since end of war with Israel

24/7 News Coverage
Study challenges climate change's link to our wild winter jet stream
Successful liftoff delivers Sentinel4 on MTG satellite to enhance atmospheric forecasting
SatSure and Dhruva Space unite to deliver complete Earth observation service solutions



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.