15 soldiers were ambushed Saturday and killed by the rebels in the remote hamlet of La Julia, 100 miles south of Bogota, when the government tropes retook control of the area.
Gen. Freddy Padilla, chairman of Colombia's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that his troops were surprised by the rebels. Among the soldiers killed were two junior officers.
" This hurts immensely and that's why we must get rid of forever the drug trade which is financing these terrorists," President Alvaro Uribe said.
The area is in the main stronghold of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. FARC, counting about 11.000 fighters, has been trying to overthrow Colombia's government for almost a half-century.
On November 1, guerrillas fired on a police station in Tierradentro, 230 miles northwest of Bogota. 17 police officers were killed then.
On October 19 at a military university in Bogota, a vehicle exploded a few feet from where the head of the army, Gen. Mario Montoya, has given a speech. 23 people were injured.
Source: AP
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