Authorities raise the number of police killed in a suspected FARC attack in the southern department of Caqueta to fourteen.
Initially, departmental authorities said five policemen were killed on Wednesday when a roadside bomb hit a patrol .
However, 24 hours after the attack rural police commander Santiago Parra told press that fourteen men were killed in the attack and an additional nine were injured.
“The police were surprised by the 15th Front of the FARC in the Rionegro area, where fourteen troopers were killed,” the official said.
According to Parra, the policemen were traveling in a five-vehicle patrol when they drove over a landmine. They were then shot at by guerrillas, and set on fire.
The Caqueta attack is the first publicized deadly attack on security forces since the inauguration of President Juan Manuel Santos on August 7 and one of the deadliest in recent years.
The attack was the first of three which took place within 24 hours.