Government air strikes kill 20 alleged guerrillas in Colombia, president says

Twenty guerrillas have been killed in Colombia in the latest bombing raid on insurgent-controlled areas ordered by the new government, the president said Monday.

"We neutralised 20 narco-terrorists, captured five ... and rescued two minors," President Abelardo de la Espriella said in a video on X.

The operation took place at dawn Monday in Guaviare, southern Colombia. It was against guerrillas under the command of the country's most-wanted rebel, known as Ivan Mordisco.

The deaths come as the newly elected hardline president, a staunch ally of US President Donald Trump, ramps up military operations against armed groups funded by drug trafficking, illegal mining and extortion.

The Trump administration pledged $1 billion in security aid to Bogota after the far-right president was sworn in.

The latest bombardment follows two deadly air strikes against guerrillas earlier in August. A source from the forensics authority told AFP on Monday that four minors were among the dead in an air strike last week. It is unclear who these minors were.

Rights groups warn that children and teens are increasingly being recruited by armed groups through slick social media campaigns.

Mordisco is the leader of the Central General Staff (EMC) dissident group, one of the largest outlawed armed groups in the South American nation, which is grappling with its worst violence in a decade.

The EMC broke away from the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) after it signed a 2016 peace deal.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)