An incursion of neo-paramilitary group “Los Urabeños” in a town in the north of Colombia Saturday has left at least seven people dead while another four have been reported missing, local authorities said Saturday.
According to local authorities, an undisclosed number of members of the neo-paramilitary organization entered the municipality of Tierralta in the northern Cordoba department on Thursday evening after which they massacred at least five men and one woman.
“Six people are dead. Also regrettably four people were taken. This massacre has no precedent in the area,” Governor Alejandro Lyons was quoted as saying by local media.
While authorities did reveal the neo-paramilitary incursion took place on Thursday, authorities did not find the bodies of the victims until Saturday morning.
According to news agency Colprensa, two of the victims of the massacre are local community leaders. The governor said the massacre had to do with a dispute between drug trafficking organizations.
The massacre in Tierralta is the fourth in Colombia this year. 26 people have been killed in 2013 in massacres attributed to neo-paramilitary and drug trafficking groups.
Tierralta traditionally has traditionally been a hotbed of (neo-)paramilitary activity. In the first decade of the century the municipality was the location of the main camp of the paramilitary organization AUC. After the demobilization of the AUC between 2003 and 2006, the Urabeños — former by mid-level commanders of the AUC — took control over the area.