Body of noted drug trafficker found

Ending a years-long manhunt, troops in Colombia have found the corpse of Pedro "the Knife" Guerrero, one of the country's top right-wing paramilitary leaders and drug traffickers, President Juan Manuel Santos said yesterday.

Guerrero, nicknamed after the weapon he favored while terrifying peasants whom he suspected of aiding leftist rebels, was believed to have been mortally wounded in a gun battle Christmas morning when 120 helicopter-borne commandos of the special Junglas anti-narcotics police force raided his camp near the remote town of Mapiripan in Meta state.

Two police officers and one of Guerrero's bodyguards were killed in the shootout, in which his forces fought back with high-caliber machine guns. Seven members of Guerrero's inner circle were captured, including Harold Humberto Rojas Pineros, or "Crazy Harold," Guerrero's second in command.