Five indigenous people were fatally shot in the southwestern department of Cauca Friday.
The group were tied by the hands and shot in the head, reported local media.
Police are investigating who carried out the killings, for which the motive is unclear. Two burned motorcycles were also found at the scene.
Cauca’s police commander Colonel Ricardo Augusto Alarcon noted that FARC‘s mobile column Jacobo Arenas operated in the region but said his investigators would “determine whether it is the guerrilla group or common criminals” responsible for the crime.
Leaders from the Regional Council at Cauca (CRIC) have not ruled out the possibility of a land dispute being behind the crime, reported newspaper El Pais. Indigenous peoples in the area have had a history of territorial dispute, being forced from their lands by guerrillas and paramilitaries.
