At least 27 people have been killed in clashes between rival factions of a leftist guerrilla group in Colombia, the country’s military said.

They said the two sides were fighting over control of a jungle area in the central region of the country.

A military source told Reuters on Sunday that the clash took place in the rural area of ​​El Retorno in the department of Guayaquil, 300 km southeast of the capital Bogota. It was the deadliest clash in months.

The region is strategically important for cocaine production and trafficking, Reuters reported.

A second military source said the clash was between two factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), one of which is led by Nestor Gregorio Vera, better known by the pseudonym Ivanna Mordisco. The other faction is led by Alexander Diaz Mendoza, who goes by the pseudonym Calarca Córdoba.

Both factions are part of the so-called Central General Staff. But they split in April 2024 due to internal conflicts.

The two sources in the Colombian military, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said all of the dead were members of Vera’s faction.

A leader of Diaz’s faction confirmed the clashes to Reuters, which also confirmed the 27 deaths.

Diaz’s faction is currently engaged in peace talks with Colombia’s leftist President Gustavo Petro. Vera’s faction, on the other hand, has been at odds since the government suspended a bilateral ceasefire.

The two factions, now rivals, rejected a peace deal in 2016. At that time, about 13,000 FARC members laid down their arms, abandoned the armed struggle, and became part of mainstream society.

Colombia’s armed conflict has been going on for more than six decades. They primarily finance themselves through illegal mining and drug trafficking. The conflict, which has lasted for more than six decades, has killed more than 450,000 people and displaced millions. President Petro’s peace initiative is now virtually at a standstill.