Colombian air force kills rebel leader in bomb raid

Published on Wednesday 5 September 2007 00:06

COLOMBIAN security forces have dealt a blow to Marxist guerrillas by killing one of their top earners, a commander who managed massive drug and arms smuggling operations.

Tomas Medina, better known by his alias "El Negro Acacio" (The Black Acacia) was killed in a precision bombardment by the air force after informers within the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), leaked the location of his camp in the eastern province of Guainia.

Another 16 rebels were killed and defence minister Juan Manuel Santos displayed aerial images of bodies on the jungle floor.

He said: "This is without doubt the strongest blow delivered to the logistical capacity of this terrorist group."

Mr Santos called Medina "one of the most bloodthirsty and astute FARC leaders".

Medina was linked to the delivery of 10,000 AK-47 assault rifles that were parachuted in 2000 into the jungles of eastern Colombia.

Intelligence sources say he turned his guerrilla unit, the FARC's 16th Front, into a money-making machine, dedicated to growing, processing and collecting cocaine from the eastern part of the country under guerrilla control. The drugs were then swapped for arms or sold to international traffickers.

It is thought the 16th Front was exporting as much as two tons of cocaine to Brazil every month, worth an estimated 10 million.

General Fredy Padilla, the armed forces chief, said: "El Negro Acacio had become a myth as the security forces seemed unable to touch him. That myth is finished."