BOGOTA — Two Colombian soldiers were killed in clashes with leftist ELN rebels, the country's second largest rebel group, the military said. The army accused guerrillas from the National Liberation Army (ELN) of launching an attack in the northeastern town of Cubara near the Venezuelan border. Officials said the insurgents on Saturday attacked soldiers who were trying to dismantle oil infrastructure that the ELN is building in the area. “During the security and defense operation, our soldiers were brutally murdered,” the army said in a statement. Last week, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos ordered his government to step up an offensive against the group after the rebels showed off a soldier's severed leg, apparently blown off by an anti-personnel mine. There are about 2,500 fighters in ELN, Colombia's second largest rebel group after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), another leftist insurgency. Both the ELN and the FARC have been at war with the Colombian government since the mid-1960s. The long-running unrest has left more than 200,000 people dead, despite dragging peace talks between the government and FARC. — Agencies
