Attacks attributed to Colombia’s largest rebel group, FARC, killed on Friday and Saturday two soldiers and two civilians in the southwest and north of the country.
On Friday, suspected rebels from the FARC’s 41st Front fired indiscriminately at cars refusing to halt at a rebel roadblock in the northern Cesar department. As the guerrillas opened fire on the cars, two civilians were killed and five or six more wounded.
After having fired the shots, the alleged FARC rebels burned several vehicles and then retreated from the area.
Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, condemned the suspected rebel attack and urged the Colombian armed forces to pursue the individuals responsible for the deed.
In other events on Saturday, heavy combat between FARC rebels from the 21th Front and the Colombian army lead to the death of two Colombian army soldiers in the southwestern Tolima department, where the guerrilla organization was born in 1964.
There were no reports on killed or injured rebels.
The Task Force Zeus of the Colombian army said that the 21th Front is responsible for the protection of alias “Marlon,” the top leader of the FARC’s strategically important Central Bloc, which compromises approximately 900 guerrillas supported by a militia network of over 4,500 people in the Tolima and Huila departments.
MORE: Map of FARC attacks in February
Locations of the alleged rebel attacks
Sources
- Un soldado herido en combates en Caquetá (El Espectador)
- Dos militares muertos por combates entre el Ejército y las Farc en el Tolima (Caracol Radio)
- Ataque de las Farc deja dos muertos y seis heridos en Cesar (Terra Colombia