BOGOTA (Reuters) – National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas are targeting community leaders and former members of a separate rebel group in the northeastern region of Catatumbo, Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez said on Sunday, while local authorities said the violence has killed 80 people killed.
The violence – the bloodiest in recent years – prompted President Gustavo Petro last week to accuse the ELN of committing a war crime and suspend peace talks with the group.
The ELN has launched an offensive against former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels who demobilized under a 2016 peace deal, their families and some community leaders, Velasquez said from the eastern city of Cucuta.
Colombian rebel groups have historically fought the government, right-wing paramilitary organizations and each other for control of territory and illegal sources of income such as drug trafficking. Armed groups also often attack civilians who oppose their activities.
Velasquez said 8,000 people had been displaced by the fighting. Although he gave a death toll of 60, the governor’s office in Norte de Santander province and the human rights ombudsman said the death toll was 80.
The ELN said in a statement on Sunday that demobilized FARC rebels had taken up arms again and that the victims were not civilians.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Michael Perry)