Guerrilla group ELN allegedly killed at least six soldiers and injured another 28 in a drone and mortar attack on a military base in northern Colombia.
The attack took place in Aguachica, a municipality in the Cesar province that is considered of major strategic importance for the ELN.
In a press statement, the National Army said that “in this terrorist attack, the criminals used drones equipped with improvised explosives and indiscriminately launched unconventional explosive devices” from home-made mortars called “tatucos.”
Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned the guerrilla attack on social media platform X and said that President Gustavo Petro ordered the purchase of anti-drone systems that would allow the military to defend itself against attacks like the one in Cesar.
Although around 95% of drone attacks have been prevented this year, this threat has grown exponentially and at a very rapid pace, posing a serious risk to national security. For this reason, the President of the Republic authorized urgent action and the allocation of 1 trillion pesos to develop the first phase of a strategic project that seeks to protect the entire country from drone attacks.
Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez
The attack took place while delegates of the Peace Commissioner’s office and the ELN are trying to resume peace talks that were suspended a year ago.
These peace talks seek to negotiate an end to the guerrillas’ insurgency of more than half a century.
The ELN, which is believed to have some 6,000 members, is one of multiple illegal armed groups that were either formed during Colombia’s armed conflict or as dissident group to organizations that agreed to peace.
The Petro administration has been trying to hold peace talks with virtually all of them, but with little success.
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