The attack by ground troops with supporting air strikes was carried out as fighters from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rested in the plains region of northern Arauca, the government said.
The operation, by Task Force Quiron, forms part of a new strategy by the defense ministry to battle the Marxist guerrillas by destroying key rebel military and financial units as well as tracking down and killing their leaders.
“We are looking for the (FARC units) that have done the most damage to the country,” Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said during a press conference. “These are substantial and permanent hits.”
He pledged to keep up the fight against the FARC, as well as the smaller ELN guerrilla group, drug traffickers and crime gangs that evolved from demobilized paramilitary groups.
Fifty-one FARC fighters have been captured or killed in the last 24 hours as part of its new strategy, Pinzon said. One of the captured fighters is sought for extradition by the United States on drug trafficking charges, he said.
Government troops have attacked the FARC relentlessly over the past decade helped by billions of dollars in US military aid, pushing them deeper into inhospitable jungle and mountain ranges. The offensive has halved the FARC’s fighting force to about 8,000 and killed several of its key commanders.
Still, the FARC remains a formidable force, attacking towns and oil workers and seeking to hobble key industries like mining and energy.
The FARC, considered a terrorist group by the United States and Europe, has stepped up attacks in recent months in a bid to slow the nation’s economic growth and sow fear in Colombians as they travel. The rebels killed 11 soldiers on Saturday as they provided security in the oil producing region of Arauca.
The government has established at least 11 new task forces to dismantle key rebel units involved in cocaine smuggling, arms trafficking, illegal mineral mining and manufacturing of bombs.
Santos has ruled out any talk of negotiating peace with the FARC until it stops all attacks on civilian and military targets and frees all hostages.
