A bomb attack on a military installation in Colombia on Tuesday killed at least two troops and injured 26 others, according to the army, which blamed it on left-wing National Liberation Army (ELN) insurgents who have been in intermittent peace talks with the government.
The ELN has increased attacks on military targets since August, when it opted not to renew a truce with army forces that had been in place since 2023 as part of sporadic discussions that began the previous year.
“In practice, this is an act that closes the peace process with blood,” President Gustavo Petro remarked about the attack, without providing any details.
The incident occurred in Puerto Jordan, eastern Arauca department, near the Venezuelan border, according to the army on the social networking site X.
According to the defense ministry, two low-ranking soldiers died, five were gravely injured, and 21 were injured, but their lives were not in danger.
General Luis Emilio Cardozo, leader of the armed forces, stated that the explosives were detonated in a dump truck.
The ELN is the largest of the armed factions currently operating in Colombia since the government reached an agreement with a much larger Marxist rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in 2016.
The accord with the FARC attempted to end the Americas’ longest-running war, which had claimed over 200,000 lives since the 1960s.
However, remaining FARC splinter organizations and the ELN have refused to negotiate peace.
Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, promised during his election in 2022 to bring total peace to the country by engaging all parties in talks, including the ELN.
However, in August, Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez stated that the military will restart operations against the ELN once the ceasefire expired, as the rebels chose not to renew it.
The ELN accuses the government of failing to follow through on prior rounds of peace talks.
The group also demands that the government remove it from the list of organized armed groups.
Colombia’s military intelligence service estimates that the ELN has approximately 5,800 members.