Military operation kills 10 FARC rebels in Colombia

The Colombian authorities confirmed Saturday that 10 rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been killed in a military operation in the northwestern Antioquia department.

According to a statement of the Defense Ministry, the operation was aimed to tackle drug trafficking, illegal mining and extortion near the Segovia municipality.

"Ten guerrilla rebels of FARC's 4th Front were killed in the combat, and two others were found injured and captured by the army troops," it said.

Troops, with support of the Air Force, seized, along with rifles and pistols, two computers, one hard disk and 31 USB memory disks, which are being analyzed by military intelligence.

The operation was launched two days after an Air Force aircraft bombed a FARC camp that killed 26 rebels and led to the suspension of a unilateral cease-fire declared by the FARC guerrillas last December.

The December cease-fire had raised hopes that the peace talks between the rebels and the government in Havana, Cuba, were approaching a breakthrough. But tensions have flared up since the FARC killed 11 soldiers in an ambush on April 14.

The day after the ambush, President Juan Manuel Santos ordered the military to resume airstrikes against the rebels after a suspension of such attacks on March 11 in recognition of the cease-fire.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Office in Colombia on Friday expressed serious concern over the escalation of armed conflict in the country, calling on the parties to "continue focusing all their efforts to successfully conclude the negotiation process that represents the only hope to build a lasting peace that the Colombian people yearn for." Endi