BOGOTÁ, Nov 12, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Top Colombian military officers on Tuesday revealed a deadly offensive against a drug-running guerrilla group, saying airstrikes had killed 19 fighters in the country's Amazon region.

The strikes -- which targeted a dissident ex-FARC splinter group -- came as President Gustavo Petro faces pre-election criticism and US sanctions for his alleged reluctance to target armed cocaine-trafficking groups.

Admiral Francisco Cubides said the strikes occurred "at dawn on November 10" and resulted in "19 terrorists killed," as well as one person captured and military equipment seized.

He said the airstrike was a response to an "imminent" rebel attack on military targets.

Petro said he ordered the "bombing and military dissolution" of the group led by the country's most wanted rebel, a fighter with the alias Ivan Mordisco, after failed peace negotiations.

Mordisco leads the Central General Staff (EMC), a faction that rejected the 2016 peace deal with the Colombian government.

The EMC has grown in power since the FARC's disarmament, exploiting remote areas through drug trafficking, extortion, and illegal mining, according to experts.

In October, Washington slapped unprecedented sanctions on Colombia's leftist president, his wife, son, and a top aide, accusing them of enabling drug cartels.

The US Treasury blacklisted Petro, first lady Veronica Alcocer, his eldest son Nicolas, and Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, banning them from travel to the United States and freezing any US assets they hold.

The US government provided no evidence linking Petro directly to drug trafficking.

The US sanctions list is usually reserved for drug kingpins, terror operatives, and dictators involved in widespread human rights abuses.

The rupture capped months of personal friction between President Donald Trump and Petro over US deportations and strikes on suspected drug boats off the coast of South America.

Since taking power in 2022, Petro has opted to engage well-armed cocaine-producing groups in talks, rather than conduct open warfare.

Critics say the policy has allowed cartels and guerrilla groups to flourish, seizing territory and producing record amounts of cocaine.

Petro is constitutionally barred from running for president again, but the criticism risks damaging his political allies during next year's elections.