Colombian military attributes explosive attack to guerrilla group ELN

BOGOTA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- An explosive attack that left a soldier dead on Saturday was attributed to the guerrilla group National Liberation Army (ELN), said the Colombian military.

The attack using explosives killed the 39-year-old Colombian soldier Carlos Urena in the northwestern province of Antioquia, the Colombian Seventh Military Brigade said.

Via his Twitter account, the brigade commander Juan Carlos Ramirez confirmed Urena's death following the attack allegedly carried out by the Taraza group which belongs to the ELN.

"In a cowardly attack by the ELN, in which they launched unconventional explosive devices, the professional soldier Carlos Alberto Urena Robles was killed in the rural area of Valdivia #Antioquia. My solidarity and that of @Ejercito_Div7 (National Army of Colombia) goes to his family in these difficult moments," Ramirez wrote on social network.

Ramirez added that military troops were deployed by land and air to locate those responsible for the attack, which came after the ELN announced on Thursday a unilateral cease-fire as a gesture of peace for Holy Week.

In January, President Ivan Duque suspended peace talks with the ELN which took place in Havana, Cuba, following a car bomb attack at the General Santander Police Cadet School which left 21 dead and 68 injured.