Colombia’s Navy killed eight alleged FARC guerrillas and captured another two in an operation on the Pacific Ocean between the western Valle del Cauca and Choco departments, Colombian media reported.
According to Vice Admiral Roberto Garcia, six of the eight guerrillas killed were completely incinerated in a boat fire that lasted six hours.
The boat allegedly belonged to alias “Jefferson,” a commander of the left-wing guerrilla group FARC, who is accused of terrorist activity in the coastal Choco, Nariño, and Cauca departments.
Following increased FARC attacks and a soaring crime rate in the southwest of Colombia, President Juan Manuel Santos last week vowed to send more troops to Nariño and Cauca in order to curb the guerrillas’ and drug trafficking gangs’ influence.