Soldiers killed two members of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a top military official said Tuesday, according to dpa. The killing was the latest of a series of violent outbreaks since a peace process started in November 2012 in Cuba. General Jaime Lasprilla, commander of the Colombian army, said that soldiers had clashed with FARC in the eastern province of Arauca and killed a regional leader and a female FARC fighter. A 19-year-old member of an indigenous ethnic group was captured, according to Radio Caracol. Another FARC fighter was captured in the south-western province of Huila. Despite the negotiations the two sides have not reached a ceasefire agreement to end a half-century of armed conflict. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has declared the military will continue pursuing FARC until there is a formal agreement. Earlier this month in Havana, the two sides said once a peace agreement is reached, they would create a truth commission. The new commission is to seek to "promote an acknowledgement of the victims" whose rights have been violated and include people displaced by the half century of conflict. Scores have died since April in renewed fighting, including two former members of the FARC delegation to the peace talks. FARC have been significantly weakened in recent years but remain the largest rebel group in Latin America, with a particularly strong presence in more remote areas of Colombia, which is mountainous and heavily forested.
