BOGOTA, May 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 guerrilla fighters have been killed and two others injured by the Colombian army in the southern department of Caqueta, the authorities announced on Monday.
The guerrilla fighters were the dissident former members of the Colombia's disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC).
According to Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas, "11 members of this leftover armed group, led by the alias 'Cadete', were shot dead and two more were injured, including a minor forcibly recruited."
The minister said the clashes took place in a rural area of the La Montanita municipality.
The authorities alleged that the breakaway group from the FARC, which refused to honor the peace deal with the government, had come to "demand extortion money" from local businesses.
Villegas said that the operation was of "great importance in dismantling these leftover organizations."
He added that Colombia held its presidential elections on Sunday and that no acts harmed public order.
"This achievement is for our armed forces and police, who guaranteed normality in these elections at 100 percent of the voting stations," explained Villegas. "This was the first time we had presidential elections in the post-conflict era and for the first time with the FARC as a political party."
The FARC signed a peace deal with the government in 2016 and has since renounced violence and transformed into a political party. But a small number of soldiers refused to give up their criminal activities.
