Six Colombian troops killed in attack by rebels on military base near Venezuela

Colombia’s ELN guerrilla group used drones and explosives in Thursday night attack that also injured at least 28 soldiers

Colombia’s ELN guerrilla group has attacked a military base near Venezuela with drones and explosives, killing six soldiers and wounding more than two dozen.

Founded in 1964 and inspired by the Cuban revolution, the ELN is the oldest surviving guerrilla group in the Americas, and controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia. Efforts to negotiate a peace settlement have repeatedly stalled.

The Thursday night attack on the rural military outpost in Aguachica, near the border with Venezuela, was the second deadly clash with security forces in a week, with at least eight soldiers killed.

“I categorically reject the ELN’s terrorist action using drones and launching of explosive devices against a Military Base … with the regrettable loss of 6 of our soldiers and at least about 28 soldiers wounded,” Pedro Sánchez, Colombia’s defense minister, wrote on social media early on Friday.