Backed by the air force, Colombian troops attacked a group of FARC rebels along the Ecuador border, killing at least 22 of them. Colombian Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera insists all the fighting occurred on the Colombia side of the border.
Officials did not comment on whether any security forces were killed or wounded in the attack, but proudly displayed the bodies of slain rebels in a nearby town. Rivera added that the FARC unit attacked was the same one responsible for killing eight police in a border town a week earlier.
President Santos lauded the strike as one of the largest strike against the rebels in quite some time. He promised to continue with similar raids going forward across the nation to prove that the group is “appearing like lions when they are mice.”
Efforts have been made recently for peace talks between the government and the rebels, though the current government has ruled out that possibility, saying there is “no alternative” but military offensives and that the calls for talks “do not even deserve a response by the government.”