Seven troops from the leftist rebel group FARC were killed in fighting with Colombian Armed Forces on the day of the local elections, news agency EFE reported Sunday.
Army commander General Sergio Mantilla said that in a rural area called Puerto Rico in the south of the department of Caqueta, soldiers from the counter-guerrilla Battalion Number 12, of the 12th Brigade killed three members of the FARC’s Mobile Column Teolfilo Forero.
Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon described incident as a “complete success,” and added that three rebels had been arrested after the attack, one of whom was injured.
Four more FARC rebels were killed in operations against the FARC in three other locations; the 28th Front in the department of Casanare, the 5th Front in the north of the Uraba region, and the Mobile Column Jacobo Arenas in the department of Cauca.
Approximately 330,000 soldiers from the Colombian Armed Forces and police officers were deployed at polling stations to provide security during the local and regional elections.