BOGOTA — Eleven soldiers were killed and 19 injured in an attack by leftist guerrillas in Colombia, likely a major violation of the rebels’ pledge of a unilateral cease-fire that throws into doubt the future of peace talks.
The attack occurred around midnight Tuesday in the volatile southwest department of Cauca when an army unit on a routine patrol was surprised by guerrillas firing homemade explosives and grenades. A corporal and 10 others were killed during the ambush by a unit of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the army’s third division said in a statement.
President Juan Manuel Santos condemned the attack, which he said was premeditated and not the result of any army incursion.
He also lifted a month-old suspension of aerial bombings of FARC camps that had been trumpeted as a major milepost in the effort to end a half-century of fighting.
‘‘Let it be very clear to the FARC: I’m not going let myself be pressured by vile acts like this,’’ said Santos, flanked by his top military commanders, while en route Wednesday to the combat zone in a rural outpost called La Esperanza, or Hope.
Colombians took to social media to denounce the attack and call on Santos to abandon the peace talks.
‘‘Santos, don’t betray us anymore,’’ former president Alvaro Uribe, a critic of the peace process, said on Twitter. ‘‘Don’t justify the murder of our soldiers with this talk of war you want to end.’’
FARC negotiators in Cuba committed in December to a unilateral cease-fire to promote peace talks that have taken place on the communist-led island over the past two years, saying they would only fire weapons if attacked by the armed forces.