Colombia’s defense minister said on Tuesday that the army has killed nine FARC fighters in combat in the south of the country.
In a public speech, Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon said the army had killed the members of the FARC’s Teofilo Forero unit in the north of the Caqueta department.
Durante Rendición de Cuentas @mindefensa informa el abatimiento de 9 terroristas de la Teófilo Forero de las #Farc @FuerzasMilCol
— Mindefensa Colombia (@mindefensa) September 24, 2013
The deaths were not confirmed by the FARC.
Six of the rebel casualties were men. Three were women.
Newspaper El Tiempo reported that the combat was part of an offensive to find FARC ringleader “El Paisa,” the commander of the Teofilo Forero mobile column.