Colombia’s defense minister said Friday the army has captured 11 aides of the FARC in the violence-ridden southwest of the country.
The 11 suspects were arrested in a surprise raid on the village of El Palo, located in the north of the Cauca department that has suffered under extreme violence between FARC and army for years.
According to a press release of the Defense ministry, the 11 are aides of the guerrillas’ 6th Front.
Additionally, armed forces arrested “El Enano,” an alleged guerrilla suspected of having killed an army major earlier this year, Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said.
The Colombian armed forces have been carrying out several offensives in response to a series of rebel attacks in the north of the Cauca department, a hotbed of guerrilla activity and considered crucial for the cultivation of coca and marijuana, and an important corridor for several drug trafficking organizations trying to transport illicit drugs from the south of the country to the Pacific coast.