BOGOTA (AFP) -
Colombia
authorized the use of all military force, including air strikes, against
the country's three biggest criminal gangs in a major escalation
against "organized armed groups."
Defense Minister Luis Carlos
Villegas announced the directive late Thursday after a special session
of a Senate committee in a violence-torn region of northwestern
Colombia.
"Directive 15 permits the application of all the force
of the state, without exception, against organized armed groups or
groups who have major hostile capacity," he said.
Until now the
military has been used only against leftist guerrilla groups, who have
been negotiating an end to their half century old conflict.
The new strategy specifically targets three major crime groups -- the Clan Usuga, Los Pelusos and Los Puntilleros.
"Those
three organizations from today will be pursued autonomously or in
coordination by the armed forces and the police," Villegas said,
speaking from the region of Apartado, a stronghold of the Clan Usuga.
They
have been classified as "organized armed groups" because they use
camps, long arms, uniforms and have a territorial presence, he said.
A
government source said that besides air strikes, the state's use of
force could include "air assault operations with special forces,
ambushes, high precision snipers, supporting artillery fire."
© 2016 AFP
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