Colombia’s President ordered military airstrikes on the country’s largest rebel group to resume Wednesday after an attack that killed 10 soldiers.
The attack, which also injured four soldiers in the southwestern Cauca province, “will not go unpunished and requires action,” President Juan Manuel Santos said, accusing guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia of deliberately breaking the rebel group’s ceasefire pledge.
It comes amid lengthy peace talks with the leftist rebel group, known as the FARC, to try to end 50 years of fighting. Negotiations between the two sides have stalled several times over the years, and the group has been accused of bombings, murder, extortion and kidnappings.
Even as he sharply condemned the rebels for their latest attack, Santos said the peace talks remain an important priority.
“Acts of this nature, of this seriousness,” he said, “show once again the need to accelerate the negotiations to put an end to this conflict that continues to fill Colombian families with mourning.”