Colombian Armed Forces Eliminated 13 FARC Rebels in Bombing Attack, Defense Minister Says

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Colombia's armed forces eliminated 13 rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group in a bombing attack in the country's south, Defense Minister Diego Molano said on Wednesday.

"No truce to drug criminals who steal the peace of Colombians. The bombing attack by our Colombian armed forces, supported by the prosecutor's office in Calamar, Guaviare, neutralized 13 members of FARC's Gentil Duarte team," Molano wrote on Twitter.

According to Molano, the killed drug traffickers recruited minors, staged attacks on security forces, kidnapped people, and also engaged in illegal extraction of mineral resources.

In February, a former FARC leader, Seuxis Pausias Hernandez Solarte, aka Jesus Santrich, threatened Colombian President Ivan Duque with death in a video that was broadcast by a local TV channel.

FARC was founded in 1964 as a military wing of a local communist party. It was supposed to fight for the creation of a "New Colombia", which was meant to be a society of social justice and equality. FARC numbered up to 20,000 fighters back then.

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, rebels walk in their camp in La Carmelita near Puerto Asis in Colombia's southwestern state of Putumayo, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017

© AP Photo / Fernando Vergara

The Colombian government and the rebels signed a peace agreement in 2016 after lengthy peace negotiations. In 2017, the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force communist political party was established as a political successor of the FARC.