Three Colombian troops killed in landmine attack

Three Colombian soldiers were killed and four injured on Monday in a landmine blast blamed on left-wing guerrillas, the army said.

The attack took place in a rural area of central Meta department, over a month into a major offensive by new right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella against drug-trafficking rebels.

The army said an infantry unit was hit "by the detonation of an area containing improvised explosive devices."

Three soldiers died instantly, and four others were evacuated with injuries.

The government blamed a dissident faction of the defunct Marxist rebel army FARC led by a guerrilla with the alias Calarca.

FARC signed a landmark peace accord in 2016 that ended a half century of conflict with the state but several breakaway factions rejected the deal and continue to engage in low-level warfare.

De la Espriella took office on August 7 on a promise to put all of Colombia's rebels "in jail or in a grave," with US support.

His predecessor, the leftist Gustavo Petro, tried but failed to engage the various armed groups in peace talks.