Trending 
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella said on Monday that a military airstrike in the southern region of Guaviare killed 20 guerrillas and led to the capture of five others.
De la Espriella said in a video posted on social media that the operation also resulted in the rescue of two minors. The strike was carried out at dawn against guerrillas operating under the command of rebel leader Ivan Mordisco.
“We neutralised 20 narco-terrorists, captured five… and rescued two minors,” President Abelardo de la Espriella said.
The operation is part of the new government’s intensified military campaign against armed groups involved in drug trafficking, illegal mining and extortion.
De la Espriella, a newly elected hardline president and close ally of United States President Donald Trump, has stepped up military operations against Colombia’s armed groups since taking office.
The latest strike follows two other deadly air operations targeting guerrillas earlier in August.
Mordisco leads the Central General Staff (EMC), one of Colombia’s largest outlawed armed groups. The country is currently experiencing its worst wave of violence in a decade.
The EMC emerged from a faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that rejected the group’s 2016 peace agreement with the government.
Meanwhile, concerns have grown over the involvement of minors in the conflict. A source at Colombia’s forensics authority told AFP on Monday that four minors were among those killed in an airstrike last week.
Human rights organisations have warned that armed groups are increasingly recruiting children and teenagers through social media campaign
