FARC, ELN fighters killed, caught, amid fighting in Colombia

Three soldiers and five guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were killed in fighting in southern Colombia on 12 April; the army declared there could be more casualties as fighting continued that day near the district of Puerto Rico in Caquetá, Agence France-Presse reported. Colombian sources counted two casualties among troops. Three FARC fighters including a commander were separately reported to have surrendered to authorities that day or before, in the northern department of Santander. The senior guerrilla was identified as Fabián, head of the FARC's Front 20 and coordinator of extortions, kidnappings and assassinations in the departments of Santander, César and Bolívar, Caracol radio reported. Authorities suspected Fabián as having ordered the assassination of five soldiers between 1998 and 2002 in the northern Magdalena department. He informed troops of the location of several arms caches and handed over documents about Front 20, Caracol reported. Two other guerrillas surrendered in the department of Risalda north-west of the capital Bogotá, both from the FARC's Aurelio Rodríguez Front active in Risaralda and the western department of Chocó, El Tiempo reported. One, a junior officer dubbed Beto, said he decided to flee with his partner, a female fighter dubbed Marbel or Maribel, when he learned he was to be court-martialed. He said his Front commander was injured in recent army bombardments, and the Front was "weakened" and lacked sufficient arms and recruits. The army suspected Beto as involved in the murder of the mayoress of San José del Palmar in the Chocó department in 2007, El Tiempo reported. Authorities captured another guerrilla chief dubbed Iván Contreras, at an unspecified date in the central district of Ibagué; he was suspected of running extortions and "financing" operations for the FARC in the departments of Huila and Tolima, Caracol reported on 13 April. Iván Contreras was to face charges relating to murder, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy, a police spokesman said. In the jungles of Chocó, troops destroyed two camps belonging to the other guerrilla force National Liberation Army (ELN), killed a fighter and captured another from its Manuel Hernández el Boche Front, Caracol reported on 13 April. The operation took place in the district of Tadó; five local children aged 10 to 17 years - which the ELN were said to have forcibly recruited - were taken from the camps and handed to welfare officials.