Top Colombian rebel killed

A leftist commander with a $5 million bounty on his head has been killed by Colombia’s military, in what Washington and Bogota yesterday called a breakthrough against international terrorism and drug-trafficking.

Colombia’s new President Juan Manuel Santos, sworn in just last month, called it a major victory against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

“It’s the hardest blow ever” in the history of the guerilla movement, Mr Santos told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

“The symbol of terror in Colombia has fallen,” he said.

A defence ministry source said that the Farc commander died in a carefully coordinated military attack that also took the lives of some 20 other rebels in the central Colombian department of Meta.

Some 30 military planes, 16 helicopters and about 250 special forces troops took part in the overnight raid against the Farc, Colombia’s oldest and fiercest rebel insurgency.

The US State Department had been offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Jorge Briceno on drug-trafficking and other charges.

“This is an important victory for Colombia,” said Mike Hammer, national security spokesman for US President Barack Obama, after military officials in Colombia confirmed the death of Mr Briceno, 57, head of military operations for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) in an early morning battle yesterday.

Officials in Washington described Mr Briceno as playing a key role directing the group’s drug-trafficking operations, including the production and distribution of hundreds of kilos of cocaine around the world.