A total of 191 guerrillas have been killed in clashes with Colombian security forces this year, Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said Thursday.
Of the 191 killed, 176 were allegedly members of the FARC and the other 15 were members of Colombia’s second largest insurgency group, the National Liberation Army (ELN). Security forces have also killed nine members of other criminal gangs.
The 176 FARC members killed represent a 17% increase over the same period last year.
Security forces have also taken 920 suspected FARC guerrillas into custody, a 39% increase from 2011, as well as 88 members of the ELN, and a total of 1,419 members of various criminal groups, according to the minister.
In the first four months of 2012, 354 FARC and 56 ELN members demobilized and entered into the Program for Humanitarian Attention to Demobilized Fighters.