Two policeman and one civilian were wounded Sunday by a group of unknown gunmen in the northern Colombian town of Amalfi, Antioquia.
The mayor of Amalfi, Miguel Angel Arbelaez, announced that both officers were in delicate conditions after being shot in the face on Christmas day. A civilian was also shot and injured while he was driving by in his pickup truck.
The wounded were air-lifted to Antioquia’s capital, Medellin, in a Colombian Air Force helicopter.
Although the gunmen have not been identified, the region in which the attack occurred has a strong FARC and Urabeños presence and is a major area of coca cultivation.
On Thursday in the neighboring town of Anori, guerrillas of the FARC’s 36th Front killed the town’s chief of police while on Christmas eve, they killed two soldiers during bombing attacks in the same municipality, according to El Colombiano.
In response to the FARC’s recent attacks, police commander Colonel Jose Gerardo Acevedo Ossa delegated an increase in army and police patrols in the region to beef up security.