Six people died Sunday in skirmishes between security forces and leftist rebels in north-eastern Colombia, local media reported, citing regional authorities. The dead included members of the Marxist guerilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), and the smaller Popular Liberation Army. Three soldiers were also injured in the hours-long fight in the Norte de Santander department near the border with Venezuela. The government of Juan Manuel Santos began peace talks with the ELN in mid-2014. The Santos administration has also been holding talks in Cuba with Colombia's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, since November 2012. More than 200,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict, which has dragged on for more than five decades.
