At least ten people have been killed in fighting between militants from the National Liberation Army and defectors from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Colombia near the border with Venezuela, according to the International Human Rights Organization.
“Information we have received indicates that at least ten people have been killed in the Arauca region in clashes between the National Liberation Army and the dissidents FARC,” said Human Rights Watch researcher Juan Papier.
The Colombian ombudsman’s office said in a statement that “the bodies of several men killed in the fighting” on Monday and Tuesday were found in Puerto Rondón, a small town in northeastern Colombia near the border with Venezuela.
The ombudsman’s office did not specify the number of bodies found, nor did the Colombian government or military issue any comment on the battles.
Videos circulating on social media showed heavily armed men in military fatigues firing heavily at each other in the middle of a forested area.
In this region of Colombia, the “National Liberation Army” militia has been engaged in bloody battles with rebels who defected from the FARC for rejecting a 2016 peace deal the movement struck with Bogotá, under which it disarmed.
The National Liberation Army, founded in 1964, is the single largest rebel movement still active in the country since Bogotá signed a peace accord with the FARC.
Exactly a year ago, similar battles between the National Liberation Army and FARC dissidents took place in the same region, resulting in 50 deaths.
