Rebels in Colombia attack a military patrol with a drone, killing 3 soldiers

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Rebels in northeastern Colombia used a drone to attack a military patrol in a rural area, killing three soldiers and injuring eight, the military said.

The army blamed the attack on the National Liberation Army, or ELN, a group of approximately six thousand fighters that has been fighting the Colombian government since the 1960s. The attack took place Sunday outside the town of El Carmen in the Catatumbo region, the military said in a statement.

Rebel groups in Colombia are increasingly using drones to attack the military and to attack each other as they fight for control of rural areas. They mostly use commercial photography drones with explosives strapped to them, flying them straight into their targets.

Colombia’s Defense Ministry says that rebel groups launched 115 drone attacks last year. Sunday’s drone attack is the one of the deadliest on record.

Colombia’s government has struggled to contain violence in rural areas that were formerly under the control of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the guerrilla group that made peace with the government in 2016.

Several smaller rebel groups and drug gangs are now fighting over the control of areas abandoned by the FARC, where illicit activities like drug trafficking and illegal mining are common.

In January, Colombia’s government suspended peace talks with the National Liberation Army, following a spate of attacks in the Catatumbo region, in which at least 80 people were killed and 50,000 were forced to flee their homes.