Bogotá, May 10 (Sputnik) .– The Colombian defense Minister Iván Velásquez repudiated on Friday the murder of 11 Ecuadorian military in the Alto Punino area, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, at the hands of the Border Commands Group, a dissident structure of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in a fact that he described as a brutal act of drug trafficking and He reaffirmed the commitment of cooperation with Ecuador to face organized crime on the common border.
“I reject the brutal attack perpetrated by the dissidents of the FARC, drug trafficker poster Structure: border commands, which claimed the life of 11 brave Ecuadorian military in the high -punishment sector,” Velásquez said in his official X account.
The chief of the portfolio also extending his solidarity to the Ecuadorian army and the families of the victims.
«These facts in the entire region and evidence, once again, the threat of organized armed groups that commit crimes in border areas, which do not know limits or humanity. His criminal violence is inadmissible and must be faced with all the force of the State, ”he added.
The events occurred on Friday during an operation against illegal mining, in which a military was also injured and one of the attackers was killed.
The Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the attack was carried out with explosives, grenades and rifles, and that the bodies of the military were transferred to the Forensic Center of Lake Agrio, in the province of Sucumbíos.
The Army of Ecuador indicated that the operation was composed of four combat teams made up of 80 troops.
After the ambush, the institution expressed its solidarity with family members and reaffirmed its commitment to justice.
We are on the same side: that of the people’s defense, life and peace, ”concluded Velásquez.
From the Colombian Ministry of Defense, the commitment to Ecuador was reiterated to prevent transnational organized crime from fracturing the union or tranquility between the two countries. (Sputnik)
