The commander of the armed forces, Adm. Edgar Cely, told a press conference Tuesday that the news is “painful,” but that he will not hide it from the nation.

“The armed forces will not tolerate human-rights violations by any Colombian,” he said. Because of the army’s failures in the command and control of troops, Cols. German Belalcazar and James Pineda, Maj. James Granados, 2nd Lt. Raul Muñoz, Sgt. Luis Giovanni Torrijos and Cpls. Juan Esteban Sanchez and Robinson Castro have been relieved of their duties.

All of the cashiered soldiers were assigned to the army’s 8th Division.

Muñoz, the officer in charge of the unit suspected in the murders, was turned over to the Attorney General’s Office for possible criminal prosecution.

On Oct. 14, Yenni, Yimmy and Yefferson Torres – ages 14, 9 and 6 – were found with their throats cut and bearing signs of torture in a common grave, located 100 meters (330 feet) away from the unit from the 8th Division.

Medical examiners later determed that Yenni was raped.

The victims were residents of Caño Tembladores, a rural community in the municipality of Tame.

The army commander, Gen. Alejandro Navas, told the same press conference that one of the officers under scrutiny in the Torres killings was apparently also connected with the Oct. 2 rape of a 13-year-old girl in the nearby town of Flor Amarillo.

The Colombian army “repudiates these deeds and promises to cooperate fully with the Attorney General’s Office that is handling this case,” Navas said.

Prosecutors are investigating some 60 soldiers from two battalions that were operating near Caño Tembladores.

The father of the three slain children, Jose Alvaro Torres, blamed soldiers for the crime from the start, and he welcomed Tuesday’s announcement by the military.

“For me this is good news and I hope they are punished, that they are brought before the public where the entire community can see them and they are punished under the corresponding laws,” he said.

Torres said he also had to leave his farm out of fear that the military would take reprisals against him.

The delegate in Colombia for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Christian Salazar, said Tuesday that a delegation from his agency is in the Tame municipality to observe the investigation in detail.