The main highway between Medellin and the Colombia’s main Caribbean port city Barranquilla was shut down on Sunday after guerrillas incinerated two trucks and a motorcycle.
According to the authorities, the incident took place between Puerto Valdivia and Yarumal, two towns in the troubled north of the Antioquia province.
What exactly happened is unclear as the military contradicted itself in a press release.
RCN Radio reported that ELN guerrillas initially set up a road block and stopped approximately 20 vehicles.
According to the military, “National Army forces that were in the area immediately reacted and arrived at the location where the criminals were trying to incinerate the cars.”
With the civilian drivers of the trucks apparently caught in the middle, the guerrillas and the soldiers exchanged fire.
According to the military, the rebels then again “set fire to two vehicles in their hurry the escape and to slow down the advance of the authorities.”
None of the guerrillas, soldiers and civilians were reported injured in the violence.
The highway remained closed until Monday as a result of the incident, shutting down traffic between Colombia’s second largest city and the largest port on the Caribbean coast.
¡Buenas noches!
Departamento de #Antioquia pic.twitter.com/6xpB3ngAaM— INVIAS #767 (@numeral767) July 22, 2019
According to Antioquia Police commander Colonel Giovanni Buitrago, two trucks and one motorcycle went up in flames.
The police commander did not specify which group would be behind the attack that took place in areas where dissident FARC guerrillas and AGC paramilitaries are also active.
The area where the incident took place has suffered major public security problems for decades as both guerrillas and paramilitaries are trying to control the area that has suffered chronic government neglect.
North of the location of the incidents, FARC dissidents and the AGC are fighting while east of the highway the AGC is fighting a rival military group called the Caparrapos.
