Seven police officers were killed and five wounded when gunmen reportedly from the FARC rebel group ambushed their convoy Tuesday in northwest Colombia, officials said.
"There's a lot of confusion about what happened because the attack occurred in a remote area," said a police official in the department of Cordoba.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack, but local media attributed it to leftist guerrilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Colombia is the scene of a 50-year-old conflict between the government and leftist rebels that has at times also drawn in drug traffickers and rightwing paramilitary groups.
The conflict has killed 220,000 people and caused more than five million to flee their homes since the 1960s.
Violence has continued even though the government is holding peace talks with the FARC, the largest guerrilla group, and has announced preliminary talks with the second-largest group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).
The defense ministry condemned the latest attack on its Twitter account, labeling the gunmen "terrorists" and calling it "unacceptable and cowardly to ambush and murder our uniformed officers."
It vowed to "maintain and intensify" operations against armed groups and drug traffickers.
The area where the attack occurred, the northwestern region of Uraba, has been a haven for armed groups since the 1960s because of its mountainous terrain, tropical forests and remote location along the Panama border.
Seven police officers were killed and five wounded when gunmen reportedly from the FARC rebel group ambushed their convoy Tuesday in northwest Colombia, officials said.
“There’s a lot of confusion about what happened because the attack occurred in a remote area,” said a police official in the department of Cordoba.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack, but local media attributed it to leftist guerrilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Colombia is the scene of a 50-year-old conflict between the government and leftist rebels that has at times also drawn in drug traffickers and rightwing paramilitary groups.
The conflict has killed 220,000 people and caused more than five million to flee their homes since the 1960s.
Violence has continued even though the government is holding peace talks with the FARC, the largest guerrilla group, and has announced preliminary talks with the second-largest group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).
The defense ministry condemned the latest attack on its Twitter account, labeling the gunmen “terrorists” and calling it “unacceptable and cowardly to ambush and murder our uniformed officers.”
It vowed to “maintain and intensify” operations against armed groups and drug traffickers.
The area where the attack occurred, the northwestern region of Uraba, has been a haven for armed groups since the 1960s because of its mountainous terrain, tropical forests and remote location along the Panama border.
