Colombia’s military said on Thursday that its forces had killed 15 members of the former FARC dissident faction that was excluded last week from peace talks with the government, during an operation that remains ongoing.

Soldiers “neutralized 15 members” of the Carlos Patinho Front in the municipality of Archelia (southwest), the armed forces clarified in the announcement they distributed to the media.

According to the same source, “it appears that another 12 members of the aforementioned structure were injured” and the operation continues.

On April 16, the government announced that the former FARC’s main dissident faction, the Central General Staff (EMC), had split into two factions and that peace negotiations were now being held with only one of them.

According to her, the Carlos Patinho Front is under the command of “Ivan Mordisco”, an experienced guerrilla of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Always in camouflage uniform and dark glasses, this rebel officer refused in 2016 to sign the historic peace agreement concluded by the then government and the leadership of the former FARC.

The area where the fifteen rebels were killed—the first since the split was announced—is in the Mikai Gorge, a zone where security forces are generally unable to enter: the rebels are a de facto state.

Army and police units have been trying for months to retake it.

The ongoing operation is intended to cause the maximum possible damage to this faction, which means to continue its activity in the region and is responsible for a “wave of violence”, said General Federico Mejia, commander of the army forces in Cauca province.

Talks between the government and the EMC began in October 2023. Elected in 2022, Social Democrat President Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing head of state, is pursuing an ambitious policy to achieve “absolute peace” — ending the endless civil war that has torn the Latin American country apart for over half a century.

But a series of attacks against civilians and security forces tested his government’s patience, and on April 16 the authorities announced that “Ivan Mordisco” had left the peace negotiation table.

Now her only interlocutor is Andrei Aventanio, although even he admits that he only commands 50% of the EMC rebels.

The EMC, which Bogota says is involved in drug trafficking, illegal mining and other illegal activities, has more than 3,500 fighters, Colombia’s military intelligence agency estimated in 2022.