The operation is the second alleged strike in a month against the group of former FARC mid-level commander “Rodrigo Cadete” that operates around the municipality of La Montañita, Caqueta.
The Colombian Defense Minister, Luis Carlos Villegas, in a radio interview on Monday said: "This is a very important blow: at dawn today, the Army Gaula, in an anti-extortion operation, neutralized 13 members of that Residual Armed Group that attracts fronts 7, 3 and 14" .
The minister said the clashes took place in a rural area of the La Montañita municipality.
The authorities alleged that the breakaway group from the FARC, which refused to honor the peace deal with the government, had come to "demand extortion money" from local businesses.
Villegas said that the operation was of "great importance in dismantling these leftover organizations."
He added that Colombia held its presidential elections on Sunday and that no acts harmed public order.
With nearly all precincts reporting, conservative front-runner Ivan Duque has been declared the winner in the first round of Colombia's presidential election.
Leftist candidate Gustavo Petro came in second with roughly 25 percent of the vote. In a very close third place was center-left candidate Sergio Fajardo, with nearly 24 percent. The race for second was tight until the very end, but it was ultimately Petro who eked out the win.
Duque and Petro will meet in the runoff contest on June 17.
"This achievement is for our armed forces and police, who guaranteed normality in these elections at 100 percent of the voting stations," explained Villegas. "This was the first time we had presidential elections in the post-conflict era and for the first time with the FARC as a political party."
The FARC signed a peace deal with the government in 2016 and has since renounced violence and transformed into a political party. But various FARC splinter groups have refused to give up the fight against the government.
