A group of Colombian soldiers have been accused of the “false positive” murder of three civilians, reported local media Friday.
A group of 24 soldiers from La Popa Battallion are alleged to have killed three farmers near the northeastern city of Valledupar in 2005, and passed them off as guerrillas.
The victims left their homes to go to work at nearby farms April 24, 2005. The next day, the Army reported the death of three FARC members during battle in the nearby town of La Paz.
It wasn’t until October 2005 that the bodies of the missing farmers were finally identified by relatives of the deceased. A local notary tipped off the families to the possibility of the “false positive” killings.
The term refers to the phenomenon of Colombian soldiers disguising or reporting civilian casualties as guerrillas killed in combat, falsely inflating kill rates. Hundreds of members of the security forces are being investigated.
