CúCUTA, Colombia, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- An ambush in northeastern Colombia by leftist guerrillas with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, left at least thee soldiers dead, according to reports.
Xinhua news agency, quoting Colombian army commander Alberto Mejia, reports the rebels "ambushed, attacked and brutally murdered," a group of motorcycle-riding soldiers in the Norte de Santander department of the country.
Mejia told reporters one soldier was found "incinerated and dismembered because of the attack."
Meanwhile, Colombia Reports quoted a press release from the Colombian military's Eighth Division, which blamed ELN militants for launching an explosive device that injured two civilians, ages 5 and 56, on Sunday night.
The statement said the rebels were a part of the Domingo Lain Saenz Front of the ELN, which operates in the Arauca department, southeast of Norte de Santander. The Eighth Division says it prevented 201 terrorist attacks in Arauca this year, including 126 against civilians and 50 against the department's oil infrastructure.
In June, the Colombian military said it killed Jose Amin Hernandez Manrique, leader of the ELN's Dario Martinez Front, during in a clash in Antioquia department. Days later, ELN rebels destroyed a Colombian military Black Hawk helicopter as it landed near a village in Norte de Santander.
Since 1964, the ELN, a Marxist-Leninist group with about 2,000 armed combatants and an unknown number of active supporters, has warred with the Colombian government.
It is second in size to the better-known Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has for the last two years engaged in peace talks with Colombian negotiators in Havana, Cuba.
The ELN over a year ago said it was in exploratory talks with the Bogota government and intended to enter its own formalized negotiations.
Colombia Reports quoted ELN chief Nicolas "Gabino" Rodriguez as saying last week that the start of formal talks was just days away.
