Up to eight people were discovered murdered and around three wounded in a remote, mountainous part of Colombia’s department of Nariño.
The massacres allegedly occured over Tuesday and Wednesday but due to the difficult terrain were not publicized until Thursday, reported Colombian media.
The events apparently took place near the village of San Juan Bautista, in the southern department of Nariño.
Reports claim that the first three people, of Afro-Colombian descent, were killed on Monday and then a second three were killed the next day during the funeral for the previous three, but exact figures have not yet been confirmed.
Information from the community suggests that the events have caused the forced displacement of numbers of people from the area to the nearby city of Buenavista, though authorities in the city have yet to confirm this.
African and indigenous people in the community have reported the large presence of FARC guerrillas, drug traffickers and armed gangs in the region, which makes it difficult to establish who may be responsible for the massacres.
In Buenavista the Army is on permanent patrol and there are several checkpoints along the road leading into the city.
The community is living in fear and noted that, although they have repeatedly expressed the constant risk they face to civil and security authorities, as of yet no improvements have been made nor security measures implemented to protect the population.
