Five soldiers die in attack attributed to the largest drug gang in Colombia

The soldiers were moving through a rural area of ​​the department of Córdoba (northwest) when they were attacked with “explosive devices by alleged members of the Clan del Golfo,” the Army reported in a press release.

In the “terrorist action, five soldiers were killed and three more were injured,” the Army denounced.

The municipality of Puerto Libertador, where the attack occurred, is home to vast coca crops, a plant from which cocaine is extracted.

After half a century of persecution of drug trafficking, Colombia continues to be the world’s main supplier of this drug and the US market its main destination.

Under the command of Dairo Antonio Úsuga (alias Otoniel), one of the most wanted criminals in Colombia and for whom the United States offers a reward of five million dollars, the Gulf Clan is the main exporting band of the stimulant.

The previous week, state forces killed seven members of the organization in the same region.

The country is experiencing the worst outbreak of violence since the signing of the peace pact that disarmed the FARC guerrilla in 2017.

Armed groups occupied the spaces left by what was the most powerful guerrilla in America in the face of little state presence.

In these regions, the Gulf Clan, rebels who broke from the peace pact and ELN guerrillas are waging a bloody dispute over the income from drug trafficking and illegal mining.

Attacks against the security forces have also become common. Another five soldiers died on September 11 in an ELN attack on the border with Venezuela.