The Colombian armed forces say they have killed a senior commander of the Farc rebel group.
They said the guerrilla leader Sixto Cabana was among 27 rebels killed in an attack on a camp near the Ecuadorean border on Sunday.
Mr Cabana, 55, was wanted in the US for alleged cocaine trafficking and was on the Farc's ruling the general staff.
The US had offered a reward of $2.5m (£1.6m) for information leading to his arrest.
The Colombian Defence Minister, Rodrigo Rivera, said it was the most grievous blow to the left-wing rebel group in recent years.
The fighting in the Putumayo region happened near the town of San Miguel, where eight policemen died in a rebel ambush earlier this month.
Police commandos were dropped by helicopter after air force planes bombed a rebel camp in the jungle.
Cocaine mastermind
The police said one of the dead rebels had been identified as Sixto Cabana, alias "Domingo Biojo," the commander of the 48th front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
They said he had been a member of the rebel group for 25 years and was involved in failed peace negotiations with the government a decade ago.
The US state department says Mr Cabana "controlled the production and export of hundreds of tons of cocaine to the US and the world".
He was also "responsible for the murder of hundreds of people who violated or interfered with the Farc's cocaine policies," the State Department website said.
No comments:
Post a Comment