No. 2 FARC Leader Killed In Colombia

Colombia's military killed the field marshal and No. 2 leader of the country's main leftist rebel group in bombing raids and combat at a major guerrilla encampment at the edge of the country's eastern plains, authorities announced Thursday.

The death of Jorge Briceno, 57, is a huge setback for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has been reeling from a decade of pressure by the U.S.-backed military.

It was not immediately clear whether Briceno was killed by bombs or bullets.

President Juan Manuel Santos called his death "the most crushing blow against the FARC in its entire history" — more important than the March 2008 bombing raid across the border with Ecuador that killed FARC foreign minister Raul Reyes or the bloodless rescue that July that freed former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. contractors without firing a shot.

Santos was defense minister during both operations.

He told a news conference at the United Nations in New York that at least 20 rebels were killed, including other senior insurgents, in operations that began with bombing raids Monday night involving at least 30 warplanes and 27 helicopters and ended with ground combat on Wednesday.

But the key to success was long-percolating human intelligence, said a senior government official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the subject's sensitivity.

(AP via NPR)