Guerrilla group EMC killed six soldiers in an attack with improved explosive devices in northern Colombia, the commander of the army’s 7th Division said Friday.
The attack, which injured another three soldiers, took place in Valdivia, a rural town in the north of the Antioquia province.
In an interview with Caracol Radio, General Juan Carlos Fajardo said that EMC guerrillas attacked the soldiers during an operation against paramilitary organization EGC, or “Clan del Golfo.”
The EMC detonated a field that was prepared with improvised explosive devices, hitting our soldiers. We were going against the Clan del Golfo organized armed group and this action was carried out by the EMC against the troops.
General Juan Carlos Fajardo
The EMC allegedly carried out the attack despite a ceasefire that took force in October last year to facilitate peace talks between the guerrillas and the government of President Gustavo Petro.
Antioquia’s far-right governor, Andres Julian Rendon, called on the national government to end ceasefires with all guerrilla groups.
According to Rendon, the attack was the result of a “macabre alliance between the ELN and the dissidents of the FARC,” the guerrilla group that demobilized as part of a peace deal in 2016.
The ELN and EMC units in Antioquia and Bolivar joined forces to expel the EGC from the region, according to conflict analysts.
The ELN has been upholding a bilateral ceasefire with the National Army to facilitate peace talks with the Petro administration.
The FARC dissidents have been accused of violating a similar ceasefire on multiple occasions and in multiple parts of Colombia.
In March, Petro ordered the army to suspend the ceasefire with the EMC in southwest Colombia in response to a guerrilla attack on an indigenous community in the Cauca province.
The president maintained the ceasefire in the rest of the country despite failures to maintain talks with some of the EMC’s most powerful leaders.
Before the deadly ambush in Antioquia, the military accused the EMC of attacking army units in the south of the country.
Fighting between Colombia’s illegal armed groups has posed a major threat to the peace process with the FARC and attempts to negotiate peace with the remaining guerrilla and paramilitary organizations.
