Rebels from Colombia’s largest rebel group, FARC, on Monday night blew up a section of an important oil pipeline in the southwestern Putumayo department.
According to local authorities, rebels from the FARC’s 49th Front dynamited a section of the Transandino pipeline in the Orito municipality on Monday night, causing a firestorm which prompted the evacuation of some 40 families from the area of the attack. The incident did not cause deaths or injuries, according to newspaper El Colombiano.
As of Tuesday morning, the fire caused by the explosion was extinguished, reported state-owned oil giant Ecopetrol.
“This attack presented itself at 9:25 p.m. […] in the Transandino pipeline (OTA) and generated a fire of great proportions. Given the flames came closer to the houses, it was necessary to evacuate the families who live in the Los Angeles part of the Orito municipality,” said Ecopetrol according to newspaper El Tiempo.
Furthermore, on Tuesday, FARC rebels destroyed four vehicles belonging to the CASS construction company in the same municipality.
The FARC’s 49th Front is known to use the largely lawless border between Ecuador and Colombia to launch hit and run attacks against infrastructure, army and police on the Colombian side, while later taking refuge on Ecuadorean territory.
