The Colombian army has killed one rebel group member and captured four others just days before peace talks are scheduled to get underway.
During an operation in northeast Colombia on Monday, the army captured the heads of financial and public order wings for one of the ELN regional groups.
The members of the group who were killed or captured were not immediately identified..
According to a statement, the army said the operation resulted in a blow “to the Eastern Front of the ELN.”
The attack comes shortly before scheduled peace talks with the ELN — Colombia’s second-largest rebel group. Those talks are scheduled to begin on October 27 in Quito, Ecuador.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos last week extended a ceasefire with the nation’s largest rebel group, FARC after voters rejected a peace deal in early October.
Santos, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has sought to end a 52-year conflict with FARC that’s killed an estimated 220,000 people.
The ELN did not immediately comment on Monday’s army operation. While it has agreed to engage in peace talks with the government, there is no ceasefire in place with the ELN rebels.