BOGOTA: Colombian military strikes targeting guerrilla fighters have claimed the lives of 12 children since last month, all of them abducted by the same armed groups in the soldiers' crosshairs, authorities said Monday.
President Gustavo Petro reported the deaths of five children in two recent military bombings, adding to seven reported by the office of Colombia's human rights ombudsman. Their ages were not provided.
All were "victims of forced recruitment by criminals who led them into hostilities," Petro wrote on X after the military and prosecutors announced an investigation into an attack on October 10 that killed 19 guerrillas and seven children.
The UN Human Rights Office in Colombia had expressed "deep concern" over the reported deaths of minors, urging the security forces to do whatever possible to protect children kidnapped by guerrilla groups.
One minor is abducted every two days on average in Colombia, often to be trained as fighters.
Petro, who said he had ordered the bombings to protect soldiers' lives, said he regretted the painful loss of children. "I will carry this sorrow in my conscience," he wrote, asking the victims' mothers for forgiveness.
But Petro refused a request from the ombudsman's office to halt the strikes targeting a faction of dissidents of the FARC guerrilla group that disarmed after a 2016 peace deal.
Prosecutors say more than 1,100 children were abducted by armed groups between 2019 and 2023.
From 1996 to 2016, the number was as high as 23,800.