A police office was killed and at least five were wounded during clashes with rebels in Colombia’s northeastern department of Arauca.
According to RCN Radio, there was one death and six injuries during an ambush by the FARC‘s 10th Front in the department of Arauca.
However, local news website Llanera reported that the officials were attacked with explosives during a botched rescue attempt of an Ecuadorean businessman who was kidnapped by ELN guerrillas in the town of Saravena in the same department. The report listed one fatality and five wounded.
The chief of police in Arauaca, Javier Rangel, told the Associated Press via telephone that squirmish was in fact a rescue mission and that the Ecuadorean was liberated from his ELN captors.
Both the ELN and FARC are highly active in the department bordering Venezuela.