A leader of the ELN, Colombia's last remaining active rebel force, has been killed in an operation by security forces, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Thursday.

"I congratulate our Public Forces for neutralizing Alvaro Gelves Ortega, alias Jairo, 1st leader of the ELN's Jose Antonio Galan Front," Santos wrote on Twitter.

The operation, which took place in the south of the country's northern Bolivar department, also left Ortega's "escort" dead, according to a tweet from General Jorge Nieto, director of Colombia's National Police.

The authorities did not provide further details regarding the operation.

The leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Santos government have been engaged in rocky peace talks since February.

The discussions follow a historic disarmament accord last year between the government and the country's largest rebel force, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Santos is trying to achieve "complete peace" by seeking a deal with the ELN without a ceasefire in place.

Colombian authorities say the multi-sided conflict has killed 260,000 people, left 60,000 missing, and displaced 6.9 million since it started with a leftist uprising in 1964.

Angry Colombia says Venezuela sent troops into its territory
Bogota (AFP) March 23, 2017 - Colombia slammed its neighbor Venezuela on Thursday for what it said was an "unacceptable" incursion by Venezuelan military forces on its territory, and sent troops to secure the area.

The move came just months after the two countries started to reopen their border following a security dispute.

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos said he had complained to his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro that Venezuelan troops had been camped out in the Colombian border region of Arauca since Tuesday.

Shortly afterward, Santos said the Venezuelan troops had withdrawn -- but not before triggering a tense row between the two neighbors.

"I told (Maduro) that the situation is totally unacceptable for Colombia," Santos said of his conversation with his Venezuelan counterpart, after meeting with his defense chiefs.

"He assured me that he had ordered the withdrawal of the troops from Colombian territory."

Santos said Colombian "military personnel" had been sent to the area.

"I have instructed the armed forces to stay in the area and continue exercising full sovereignty over the territory."

The foreign ministry said in a statement earlier that it had "information from the Colombian armed forces about the installation of a Venezuelan military camp in the municipality of Arauquita," in Arauca.

It said the government had sent officials to the area to investigate and meet Venezuelan border authorities.

The two countries in August started reopening border crossings after the frontier was closed a year earlier.

Venezuela had closed the border following an armed attack on a Venezuelan military patrol that left three soldiers wounded.

That attack was blamed on Colombian paramilitaries, remnants of Colombia's long civil war.

Colombian authorities also reported a further incident in January 2016 in which gunshots were exchanged in the area.

Arauquita is a strategic spot near the two countries' porous border, located on a road linking the Caribbean with the Pacific.

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Washington (AFP) March 23, 2017
The US Senate on Thursday approved the appointment of President Donald Trump's former bankruptcy lawyer, a supporter of Israeli settlement building, as Washington's ambassador to Israel. Trump's nomination of 58-year-old David Friedman, a man with a history of undiplomatic declarations, had raised concerns about America's commitment to a two-state Middle East peace deal. But Friedman apo ... read more

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