An attack allegedly carried out by Colombia’s largest rebel group, the FARC, in the southwestern state of Cauca left a 2-year-old child dead and three more injured, local media reports.
The attack was reportedly against state forces; however, the improvised mortars hit a nearby farmhouse where a family was living.
The bombing took place in the rural part of the Miranda municipality in Cauca, along the border with the Valle del Cauca state, and it is being attributed to the Gabriel Galvis Front of the FARC, according to Bogota-based Radio Santa Fe.
The three injured in the attack included the mother, father, and brother of the child. A local told national Blu Radio, “I implore [the FARC] to think before launching artifacts that profoundly affect the community.”
The mayor of Miranda, Claudia Oyola, planned a town march protesting the FARC’s actions and called for peace, and stated that the health of the victims of the attack were the first priority, according to national newspaper El Espectador.
In a nearby attack, the FARC dynamited the Pan-American highway between the cities of Cali and Popayan, in the municipality of Santander de Quilichao. The attack left traffic backed up on a frequently targeted section of the highway, according to El Espectador.
These actions come one day after Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos threatened to end peace talks with the nation’s largest guerrilla group, stating that the FARC was “digging their own political grave” and “playing with fire” after recent infrastructural attacks that forced the spilling of oil on the part of the guerrillas.
MORE: ‘FARC is digging its own grave’ with attacks on infrastructure: Santos
Peace talks with the FARC have been in progress since November 2012, and are currently being held in Havana, Cuba. The dialogues are a contentious issue among Colombians and have drawn criticism from many political and social sectors of Colombian society.
At the same time, they have been praised and supported by many within Colombia and in the international community.