Colombia Clashes Kill Nine

Nine guerrillas from a dissident group led by the former number two of the FARC died after clashes with the army in two rural municipalities in southwestern Colombia.

"During the military maneuver, a combat occurs that so far has resulted in the death in the course of military operations of nine members" of the Alfonso Cano bloc assigned to the Second Marquetalia, the Military Forces said in a statement.

The clashes occurred in the municipalities of Roberto Payan and Mosquera, in the department of Nariño (southwest). Firearms, ammunition and communication equipment were seized in the operations.

Images shared by the army show soldiers exchanging fire with rebels. "The operation continues," General Helder Giraldo, commander of the Military Forces, told the press.

"The only path that awaits the dissident faction is to submit to justice or advance the ceasefire that the president of the republic has determined," he added.

The Second Marquetalia has some 1,663 combatants according to military intelligence. Made up of rebels who rejected the implementation of the historic 2016 agreement that demobilized the bulk of the FARC, the group rearmed in 2019.

Its boss, Iván Márquez, is the former number two of the defunct guerrilla and participated in the talks prior to the treaty in Havana. He returned to civilian life for a short period and was a senator, until in August 2019 he made public his return to hiding.

In February, the government of leftist Gustavo Petro and the FARC dissident group announced the beginning of "a process of sociopolitical dialogues leading to the signing of a peace agreement."

In a document with eleven points, the parties committed to "immediately develop prior agreements for the de-escalation of the conflict."