The bodies of 17 suspected FARC guerrillas were recovered from a bomb site in the the town of Ipiales in southern Colombia, following an bombing raid by the air force, reports Caracol Radio.
Dr Alvaro Hernandez, director of forensic medicine in the Nariño department, where the raid took place, said that the bodies have been autopsied and identified.
Fifteen-year-old Doris Cadena is due in surgery at Nariño’s civil hospital later today for spine trauma injuries resulting from gunshots apparently sustained in the attack.
Cadena allegedly disappeared eight days ago with 12-year-old Jimmy Lee, who was killed in the Colombian armed forces raid on the FARC camp in Ipiales.
Uncertainty as to whether Lee was a refugee from Ecuador or a Colombian citizen was cleared up today by his mother, who confirmed the boy was Colombian, reports El Tiempo.
The raid was carried out by Colombian forces against the camp of the 48th Front of the FARC in Ipiales in Nariño, close to the Ecuadorean border.
Colombia’s national police, who contributed intelligence to the operation, say that the FARC camp had moved 25 tons of cocaine to central America and Europe annually.
Elite police commandos and army troops entered the camp after the air strike and seized 18 guns, one machine gun, one grenade launcher, 47 grenades and 2,000 rounds.