Colombia says 9 marines killed, 2 wounded when attacked while searching for rebel arms cache

Colombia: 9 marines die in firefight with rebels

BOGOTA — Colombian officials say leftist rebels have killed nine marines and wounded two in a firefight. It was one of the biggest blows against the Andean nation’s military in months.

Adm. Edgar Cely, the navy’s second-in-command, says the marines were in a platoon of 36 on a foot patrol that was looking for an explosives cache of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Celly told reporters Monday the marines were attacked the previous day when they entered a rebel camp in Solano, a municipality in the southern state of Caqueta.

The loss of life was the biggest in a single engagement since January, when four police officers and three soldiers were killed in an attack in the northeastern state of Arauca.