Three attacks in the last 24 hours have left around 17 dead across Colombia in regions involving drug traffickers, criminal groups and dissidents of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrillas, reported by officials and local media on Saturday.
The separate attacks each has been reported by leaving six people dead that took place in the Colombian provinces of Narino and Cauca, though the rest five people were also reported to be killed in Arauca province.
“We don`t know if the dead form part of an organization or if they are family members,” Commander of the Army`s Hercules Task Force, General Nairo Martinez told the local Caracol Radio in reference to the killings in Narino.
Ivan Duque, President lamented the deaths in a message through his Twitter account.”We are pained by the deaths caused by the violence driven by drug trafficking and terrorism,” he tweeted.The attacks were also condemned by Jose Miguel Vivanco, Human Rights Americas director.
“The security situation is deteriorating noticeably,” said Vivanco via Twitter.A week ago,8 people were shot dead by an unidentified armed group in a contested drug trafficking area in Narino province.
Another five people were killed in an attack in a neighborhood in the east of the city of Cali on August 11.
Drug trafficking fuels Colombia`s decades-long internal conflict, which has killed more than 260,000 and displaced millions.
The leftist guerrilla groups, the National Liberation Army; former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels who rejected peace deal 2016, criminal groups composed of former right-wing paramilitaries and drugs gangs are all involved in trafficking.
