Colombian army offensive puts truce at 'serious risk': FARC

Havana, Jan 11 (IANS/EFE) Negotiators representing the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels warned Saturday that the "continuing military offensive" by the Colombian army put the ceasefire at "serious risk".

In the third communique issued by the FARC delegation over the past week, the army action was denounced.

"This attitude of senseless hostility, at a time when the government itself has insisted on seeking agreements to wind down the conflict, besides contradicting the national majority's call for peace, puts at serious risk the continuity of the measure that was imposed to avoid new victims and end the pain of war," the note said.

The rebels began a unilateral and indefinite ceasefire Dec 20 last year, which was an unprecedented step in the history of Colombia's oldest insurgent movement.

The guerrilla group listed in the communique, the new military offensives launched since Dec 20.

According to the FARC, the Colombian army had opened fire on a rebel camp in Cauca province Jan 1, a clash in which six soldiers were killed and one guerrilla fighter was wounded.

It also said that an army patrol launched an assault on a guerrilla column in Huila province Dec 31, in which two rebels were captured and one of them was seriously wounded.

--IANS/EFE

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