Military sources have said three soldiers were killed in an armed confrontation with FARC guerrillas in the southwest of Colombia on Tuesday, reported El Espectador newspaper.
The confrontation reportedly took place in the municipality Cumbitara, in the state of Nariño state near the Ecuadorean border.
A Colombian military contingent named “Task Force Pegasus” was charged with protecting the town’s population from attacks by the 29th Front of the FARC, the largest and most veteran rebel group in Colombia.
The skirmish also wounded two Colombian soldiers, while reports on FARC casualties were not available at the time of this article.
The news of the deaths of the three solders quickly followed a deadly helicopter crash that took the lives of four Colombian soldiers in the state of Meta in central Colombia on Sunday. That crash is currently being viewed as an accident.
The state of Nariño has seen high levels of violence in recent years from both the FARC and drug trafficking criminal gangs.
MORE: Grenade attack injures 12 Colombian marines
In December of last year 12 Colombian marines were injured when an alleged FARC grenade was thrown at their troop carrier.
Cumbitara, Nariño
Sources
- Mueren tres soldados en combate entre Ejército y Farc en Nariño (El Espectador)
- Mueren tres soldados en combate entre Ejército y las Farc en Nariño (El Mundo)
