At least five Colombian soldiers were killed and more than 10 wounded early Tuesday in an attack by the Marxist ELN rebels near the border with Venezuela, the Colombian military said.
During yesterday's attack, the guerrillas bombed military vehicles on the road between the towns of Tibu and Salazar de las Palmas in Norte de Santander province. "There was a terrorist action with the detonation of an explosive device installed by members of the Juan Fernando Porras Martinez unit of the ELN," the military said in a statement, as reported by AFP.
The attack came one day after the National Liberation Army (ELN) said it would hold a unilateral ceasefire during legislative elections next month. "The National Liberation Army (ELN) will carry out a cessation of offensive military operations, between March 9 and 13," the rebel group said in a statement dated February 25, but released on Monday. The vote takes place on March 11. The government had said the gesture was the kind of action needed to restart stalled peace talks between the two sides. Both parties have expressed willingness to hold a new ceasefire and resume talks, but the government delegation remains in Colombia. "We propose to President Santos to set a date for the start of the fifth cycle of talks and send his delegation to Quito," the ELN said in the text.
The 2,000-strong group was founded by radical Roman Catholic priests in 1964. More than 220,000 people have been killed during Colombia's conflict. The United States and European Union consider the ELN a terrorist group. The ELN has participated in peace talks in the past but each time they have failed.
The ELN and the government agreed to their first-ever ceasefire in October, but the rebels launched a new offensive when it expired in early January, killing security force members, bombing major oil pipelines and kidnapping an oil contractor. The Cano Limon pipeline has been halted for nearly a month because of ELN bombs, including one detonated earlier this month. Colombian President Santos, who will leave office in August, is hoping to reach a peace deal with the ELN similar to that agreed with much larger FARC rebels, a group that has since disarmed and transformed into a political party. The FARC, meanwhile, is set to participate in the March election as well as presidential elections in May, in which Colombians will chose Santos' successor. That peace deal ended the five decades-long conflict, and guaranteed 10 seats for the FARC in Colombia's congress.