BOGOTA, Aug. 28 -- Three weeks into the job, Colombia's new president is announcing body counts on X, and the counts are not holding still.

Abelardo de la Espriella said on Thursday that Operation AMON had killed eight members of an armed group in the department of Guaviare. "As a result of the targeted airstrike and subsequent operation by our units, preliminary data indicates the elimination of eight terrorists, the seizure of 11 rifles and five machine guns, and a large amount of property," he wrote. The strike hit camps in a rural area of El Retorno municipality in the early hours, and by the government's account it began with a precision aerial bombardment and was followed in by commandos.

The target was the Jorge Suarez Briceno Bl...