An 8-year-old and a 13-year-old have been injured after stepping on an alleged ELN landmine in a rural area of the southwest Colombian department of Cauca, El Espectador reported Wednesday.
The landmine exploded as the two children were leaving their school in the area of La Balastrera, Cauca. A spokesman for the indigenous council of Purace-Coconuco said that the children have wounds on their limbs and hearing damage.
The injured children are currently being treated in a hospital in Popayan, the Cauca capital, where they were taken soon after the incident.
Authorities have blamed left-wing rebels the ELN for the explosive device, which had apparently been left in a bush beside the path the children took to school.
The surrounding area has since been secured to prevent more injuries, with security also being reenforced in the municipalities of Balboa, Argelia y El Plateado.