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Colombia’s FARC kills 5 soldiers on eve of truce: army

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Colombia's FARC guerrillas killed five soldiers Friday in an attack that came on the eve of a unilateral ceasefire hailed as a key step in peace negotiations, the army said.

FARC fighters ambushed a patrol in the rural area of Santander de Quilichao in western Colombia, in a pre-dawn attack that also left five soldiers lightly wounded and one missing, the army said.

The incident came a day before the leftist guerrilla group was due to begin an indefinite, unilateral ceasefire, a move the European Union and United Nations had praised as a positive step to accelerate the peace talks aimed at ending the 50-year-old conflict.

President Juan Manuel Santos condemned the attack and said the soldiers had died "defending the security of their fellow Colombians."

The commander of the brigade that was attacked, General Wilson Chawez, vowed the army would continue fighting the "terrorists" regardless of the ceasefire, which was announced Wednesday and begins Saturday.

"We're going to pursue our military operations. It's a unilateral ceasefire. We're an army that remains on the offensive," he told journalists.

Under the ceasefire, the FARC says its fighters will only engage in hostilities if they come under attack first.

The unprecedented move had raised hopes of a new breakthrough in the peace talks being held in the Cuban capital Havana, which opened in November 2012.

The FARC had declared Christmas ceasefires in each of the past two years, but this is the first without an expiration date.

On Thursday, Santos called the gesture a "gift... full of thorns" and again rejected the rebels' longstanding demand for a bilateral ceasefire, which he says they would use to regroup.

The attack on the eve of the ceasefire had a familiar ring for Colombians.

The rebels had also staged attacks just before their 2012 and 2013 ceasefires, showing their strength before putting down their guns.

- Attacks 'exhaust political credibility' -

The attack is the latest blow to the peace talks, which have encountered rocky terrain in recent weeks.

Last month, the FARC captured an army general who headed an anti-rebel task force in the jungle-covered region of Choco, their highest-ranking captive ever.

The incident caused Santos to suspend the peace negotiations, which he has made the centerpiece of his administration despite fierce criticism from the opposition.

The FARC released the general on November 30 in order to revive the stalled peace talks.

Defense and security expert Jairo Libreros said Friday's attack meant the FARC risked squandering the bargaining power it gained with the general's release and the ceasefire declaration.

"This kind of action just before a unilateral ceasefire ends up exhausting the FARC's political credibility. And right now the political variable is more important than force," said Libreros, a professor at the Universidad Externado de Colombia.

The talks in Havana are the most promising effort yet to end the five-decade guerrilla war, which has defied three previous attempts.

The conflict has killed 220,000 people and uprooted more than five million, according to the government.

It has drawn in multiple leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs at various times since the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was founded in the aftermath of a peasant uprising in 1964.

In a further setback, rival guerrilla group the National Liberation Army (ELN) killed three police officers in the northern town of Toledo hours before the FARC attack, officials said.

Police offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the attackers' capture.

The government has held preliminary talks on opening a separate peace process with the ELN, but the two sides have not yet formally sat down to negotiate.

Colombia’s FARC guerrillas killed five soldiers Friday in an attack that came on the eve of a unilateral ceasefire hailed as a key step in peace negotiations, the army said.

FARC fighters ambushed a patrol in the rural area of Santander de Quilichao in western Colombia, in a pre-dawn attack that also left five soldiers lightly wounded and one missing, the army said.

The incident came a day before the leftist guerrilla group was due to begin an indefinite, unilateral ceasefire, a move the European Union and United Nations had praised as a positive step to accelerate the peace talks aimed at ending the 50-year-old conflict.

President Juan Manuel Santos condemned the attack and said the soldiers had died “defending the security of their fellow Colombians.”

The commander of the brigade that was attacked, General Wilson Chawez, vowed the army would continue fighting the “terrorists” regardless of the ceasefire, which was announced Wednesday and begins Saturday.

“We’re going to pursue our military operations. It’s a unilateral ceasefire. We’re an army that remains on the offensive,” he told journalists.

Under the ceasefire, the FARC says its fighters will only engage in hostilities if they come under attack first.

The unprecedented move had raised hopes of a new breakthrough in the peace talks being held in the Cuban capital Havana, which opened in November 2012.

The FARC had declared Christmas ceasefires in each of the past two years, but this is the first without an expiration date.

On Thursday, Santos called the gesture a “gift… full of thorns” and again rejected the rebels’ longstanding demand for a bilateral ceasefire, which he says they would use to regroup.

The attack on the eve of the ceasefire had a familiar ring for Colombians.

The rebels had also staged attacks just before their 2012 and 2013 ceasefires, showing their strength before putting down their guns.

– Attacks ‘exhaust political credibility’ –

The attack is the latest blow to the peace talks, which have encountered rocky terrain in recent weeks.

Last month, the FARC captured an army general who headed an anti-rebel task force in the jungle-covered region of Choco, their highest-ranking captive ever.

The incident caused Santos to suspend the peace negotiations, which he has made the centerpiece of his administration despite fierce criticism from the opposition.

The FARC released the general on November 30 in order to revive the stalled peace talks.

Defense and security expert Jairo Libreros said Friday’s attack meant the FARC risked squandering the bargaining power it gained with the general’s release and the ceasefire declaration.

“This kind of action just before a unilateral ceasefire ends up exhausting the FARC’s political credibility. And right now the political variable is more important than force,” said Libreros, a professor at the Universidad Externado de Colombia.

The talks in Havana are the most promising effort yet to end the five-decade guerrilla war, which has defied three previous attempts.

The conflict has killed 220,000 people and uprooted more than five million, according to the government.

It has drawn in multiple leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs at various times since the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was founded in the aftermath of a peasant uprising in 1964.

In a further setback, rival guerrilla group the National Liberation Army (ELN) killed three police officers in the northern town of Toledo hours before the FARC attack, officials said.

Police offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the attackers’ capture.

The government has held preliminary talks on opening a separate peace process with the ELN, but the two sides have not yet formally sat down to negotiate.

AFP
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