Colombia’s ELN guerrilla group attacked a military base near Venezuela with drones and explosives, killing seven soldiers and wounding 30, the army said Friday.Founded in 1964 and inspired by the Cuban revolution, the ELN is the oldest surviving guerrilla group in the Americas, and controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia. Efforts to negotiate a peace settlement have repeatedly stalled.The Thursday night attack on the rural military outpost in Aguachica, near the border with Venezuela, was the second deadly clash with security forces in a week. Two police officers were killed Tuesday in Cali.
“I categorically reject the ELN’s terrorist action using drones and launching of explosive devices against a Military Base,” Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X early Friday, adding that the group “must be completely dismantled.”
He reported the deaths of six soldiers. The army updated the casualty toll to reporters later Friday, with seven dead and 30 wounded.
