Colombia’s defense minister said Monday he could neither confirm nor rule out the death of a FARC commander during Sunday’s raid on a guerrilla arms factory, El Pais reported.
Reports from Sunday’s raid were conflicting, with early statements suggesting that alias “Viviana,” girlfriend of the leader of the FARC 10th Front had been killed. The minister claimed Monday that the fate of commander Efren is unknown and that his girlfriend is currently wounded and in custody.
Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera said that he could not say whether or not Efren escaped the attack. “I can not confirm or rule that out,” said Rivera. “At the moment we are doing reconnaissance at the site of the bombing to confirm.”
Colombia’s National Police did however confirm the death of the FARC’s 10th Front chief explosives expert, alias “Elkin,” in the arms factory bombing.
According to the national police, Elkin had 18 years of experience as a guerrilla in Colombia’s Marxist group the FARC. Elkin was allegedly in charge of the 10th Front’s armory, explosive devices and munitions.
The attack, conducted in the Arauca department near Venezuela, killed a total of four FARC guerrillas and destroyed a FARC explosives factory which contained 300 grenades and a ton of indugel, a gelatinous explosive used by the FARC.