The death toll of civilians caught in the crossfire of battles between the Colombian army and the FARC in the Cauca village of Tacueyo rose to three on Friday, while thirteen people were reported injured, including three children, reports Caracol.
“We are victims of the armed conflict in the territory; the victims in our community were at work and at school,” said the indigenous leader, Miller Correa.
“We demand that [the protectors] of human rights be more effective … nobody is protecting us,” Correa said.
One of the victims, Luz Edith Taquinas Ipia, died when a grenade exploded near where she was trying to hide.
Fighting in Tacueyo, a village of 13,000 people in the south-west department of Cauca, also claimed the lives of two guerillas, and two soldiers, while two more were injured by landmines.
In the Cauca municipality of Jambalo, five guerillas were killed in clashes with the army this week, and a policeman was killed in a FARC attack.