Colombia airstrike kills eight guerrillas, president says

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella said the military killed eight guerrillas in an airstrike in the southern Amazon department of Guaviare on Thursday.

De la Espriella announced the early morning operation on X and called it a “decisive blow” against drug traffickers. The people killed belonged to a dissident faction of FARC that broke away from the former rebel army after it laid down arms in 2016.

The strike was the second airstrike of its kind under de la Espriella's administration. He took office earlier this month after promising to clamp down on crime as Colombia faces its worst levels of violence in a decade.

His government has abandoned former president Gustavo Petro's strategy of negotiating peace with armed groups and has authorised joint US military operations in Colombia against drug traffickers.

US Southern Command chief General Francis L. Donovan visited Colombia on Wednesday to discuss the security partnership with military commanders.