Six Colombian soldiers have been indicted on suspicion of the extrajudicial, “false positive”, killing of two civilians, El Espectador reported.
The incident is alleged to have taken place during a recent military operation in Campamento, Antioquia, north-central Colombia.
Hours after the operation took place, two bodies were presented to authorities dressed in guerilla uniforms, allegedly having been killed in battle.
The Prosecutor General’s Office however claims that the military operation never in fact took place and that the two involved were innocents murdered by the army. It subsequently detained the six suspects in a military garrison while it conducts further investigations.
Over 2,000 “false positive” cases are currently being investigated by the Colombian authorities, with around 500 military members linked to such killings.
“False positive” murders have allegedly been a tactic employed by both the police and military in Colombia to inflate their statistics of the numbers of guerrillas killed in combat.