Five civilians have been killed in a number of terrorist attacks by FARC guerrillas in the north of Colombia, the local police commander told Radio Caracol Wednesday.
Without providing specifics on the locations of the alleged attacks, police colonel Elicier Camacho, commander in the Catatumbo region, said the casualties were due to roadside bombs detonated by the FARC.
According to Camacho, the FARC and neo-paramilitary groups who have increased their presence in the border region, are intimidating locals.
The bomb attacks follow heavy combat between state forces and guerrillas in Catatumbo that started Tuesday.
Camacho told Caracol that eight rebel suspects were arrested or surrendered after fighting started.
Earlier, media reported that one guerrilla had been killed and two members of the security forces had been injured in the fighting.
The Catatumbo region where the combat is taking place became one of the epicenters of the Colombian armed forces’ offensive against the FARC after the appointment of “Timochenko” as the guerrillas’ supreme leader in November. The FARC leader, assumed to be located in the border area, succeeded “Alfonso Cano” who was killed by the military in December.