Colombia to deploy elite forces after killing of indigenous leader

Colombia's government on Wednesday ordered the deployment of 2,500 elite troops to combat dissident FARC guerillas after an attack that killed an indigenous leader and four guards.

The country's main indigenous organization for its part denounced the "bloodletting" of its people and called for a national demonstration.

President Ivan Duque accused guerrillas who rejected a historic 2016 peace deal with the government that ended a half-century of armed conflict of wanting to use "weapons to silence and terrorize indigenous communities."
Leaders of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) meanwhile said its people were being "persecuted, murdered and massacred."