Rebels of Colombia’s largest rebel group FARC killed at least three and injured 18 soldiers in a Saturday morning attack on a military base in the southwest of the country.
According to media reports, rebels of the local 30th front of the guerrilla group attacked the base in the municipality of Yamundi, some ten miles south of Colombia’s third largest city, Cali.
Following the guerrilla offensive, the armed forces sent reinforcements to curb the attack. The injured soldiers were sent to hospitals in Cali and Yamundi.
The attack is the second large-scale rebel attack on armed forces this year. Last month, a group of approximately 100 rebels attacked policemen guarding a radar station in the Cauca department, killing at least one and causing heavy damage to the radar.
The offenses using large numbers of fighters differ from the FARC’s hit and run strategy the group has been applying since 2008 after years of territorial losses following ongoing offensives by right-wing paramilitary forces and the U.S.-backed Colombian military.