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Colombia's
Combat Against Rebels Successful In
First Six Months
Bogota - The Colombian army
launched at least 10,000 highly effective operations
against rebels in the first half of this year, an
official report said on Sunday.
According to the report, there were 834 combats
during all the operations against terrorist groups,
drug-trafficking rings, and other rebel
organizations. A total of 281 guerilla fighters and
27 members of illegal groups were killed by
Colombian soldiers.
The operations were launched at 31 departments in
Colombia. During the operations, as many as 4,003
rebels were disarmed, including 1,535 guerillas from
the largest anti-government group Revolutionary
Armed Force of Colombia (FARC), 280 guerillas from
the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN), and
over 2,100 members from other rebel groups.
Meanwhile, the troops thwarted 1,293 terrorist
attacks and destroyed 679 camps of rebel groups,
especially the FARC. A total of 41 hostages were
rescued by the government in the first half of 2009.
Government troops also destructed 6,502 artificial
explosive devices installed by terrorists on roads,
bridges, and in schools.
The casualties consisted of 75 soldiers, and 279
others were injured during the combats against
rebels, the report noted.
The Colombian government under Alvaro Uribe has
begun to implement the Democratic Security policy
since 2002 to eliminate the armed conflicts in this
country. The government promised that the former
guerilla fighters would be treated properly under
the Humanitarian Attention Program to
Demobilization.
Uribe has made the demobilization of guerrillas in
Colombia his top priority. Since he took office on
Aug. 7, 2002, 19,288 Colombian rebels have been
disarmed.
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