At least seven Colombian soldiers have been killed in fighting with the leftist FARC rebels in a rural area of the southern province of Caqueta, it was revealed Thursday.
The Colombian army said five other soldiers were injured in the fighting in which the rebels also suffered "an indeterminate" number of casualties. The fighting began after troops advanced deep into rebel territory after receiving information about a planned attack on a remote village.
The development comes amidst peace talks progressing in Cuba between FARC and the Colombian government for ending Latin America's longest insurgency. President Juan Manuel Santos has set November 2013 as deadline for concluding the peace process.
Notably, tensions between the two sides have been high since the FARC recently ended a unilateral two-month ceasefire declared in November to facilitate peace negotiations. Nevertheless, FARC expressed willingness to extend the truce if the government agreed to make the ceasefire "bi-lateral."
But President Santos rejected the offer, saying that the country's security forces were prepared to tackle the possible resumption of violent attacks by FARC members after the expiry of the unilateral ceasefire on January 20.
FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, has been fighting the Colombian government for almost five decades. It is estimated that more than 600,000 people have been killed in Colombia since the leftist group began its anti-government operations in 1964.
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