In this September 4, 2011 file photo, a Black Hawk helicopter of the U.S. Army’s Task Force Lift “Dust Off,” Charlie Company 1-71 Aviation Regiment, returns from a mission at Forward Operating Base Edi in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan. A similary helicopter landed on a landmine in Colombia and was destroyed. AP
BOGOTA, Colombia — Four Colombian soldiers died and their Black Hawk helicopter was destroyed when the aircraft landed in a minefield planted by leftist rebels in northeastern Colombia.
The soldiers were traveling to the rebel-dominated Catatumbo region on Monday to escort workers repairing an oil pipeline damaged by a recent bombing by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
An army statement says six other soldiers suffered injuries in the incident, without providing more details.
The attack is the deadliest by the rebels since they suspended in May their unilateral cease-fire declared six months earlier to boost peace talks taking place in Cuba. The decision to resume attacks came in retaliation for a military air attack on a guerrilla camp that killed 26 people.