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Tuesday, August 5, 2025
WorldColombia: Seven police officers killed following president's bid for peace

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Colombia: Seven police officers killed following president’s bid for peace

In Colombia, there was an explosion and shooting that resulted in the deaths of seven police officers.

Their car struck a road mine while it was leaving a social gathering in Huila’s southwest.

Then, according to a police spokesperson, they were ambushed and killed by gunfire.

It is the worst attack on security forces since former guerrilla Gustavo Petro was sworn in as Colombia’s first left-wing president less than a month ago.

Images obtained by the newspaper El Tiempo showed bodies strewn around a police pickup truck.

Eight deaths were initially reported but the government later revised the figure, to seven dead and one injured.

According to the national police and attorney general’s office, three of the officers who were killed were aged 20 or younger.

Mr Petro condemned the attack, calling it “a clear act of sabotage against peace” in a tweet.

Late on Friday, he traveled to the regional capital of Neiva for a security meeting.

No group has said it was behind the attack, but Colombia’s Blu Radio pointed the finger at guerrilla groups operating in the area.

And security sources have said that dissidents from the now disbanded communist guerrilla group, Farc operate in the area, Reuters news agency reports.

Mr Petro was elected on a radical manifesto to fight inequality by providing free university education, pension reforms, and high taxes on unproductive lands – a departure for Colombia that had previously voted only conservative presidents into office.

He also pledged to fully implement a 2016 peace deal that ended a 50-year-long conflict with Farc and to seek negotiations with the still-active National Liberation Army (ELN) who are widely seen as the last organized guerrilla group operating in Colombia.
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