A man accused of leading a dissident rebel faction was killed alongside five other alleged armed group members in a Colombian military operation, days after new president Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn in with a pledge to crack down hard on illegal armed groups. The killing of Hernando Forero Mosquera, known as "El ruso", marks an early test of de la Espriella's combative "narco-terrorism" strategy, which he has framed as a sharp break from predecessor Gustavo Petro's failed "total peace" negotiation approach.

Forero allegedly led Frente 28, one of several dissident factions that emerged after the Farc's main body signed a 2016 peace deal, with holdout groups now largely funding themselves through cocaine trafficking and illegal mining. The operation in Meta province also killed three other alleged Frente 28 members, while a separate raid in Antioquia killed two suspected members of the Gulf Clan; de la Espriella said the action sent "a clear and powerful message" to armed groups. Rebel defiance followed swiftly, with a car bomb injuring two guards in Cauca and a police officer killed by a drone-dropped explosive in Cesar. The US, whose president Donald Trump backed de la Espriella's campaign, pledged $1bn (£740m) in security assistance and welcomed Colombia into its "Shield of the Americas" anti-trafficking alliance.