Six Killed In Southwestern Colombia Attack

BOGOTA, Oct 27 (NNN-Xinhua) -- At least six people were killed in an attack allegedly linked to extortion in a rural area of Suaza municipality, in Colombia’s southwestern Huila district, according to local media on Monday, reported Xinhua.

“According to preliminary accounts, this massacre may be related to alleged extortion demands, although the circumstances and motives have not yet been clarified,” said the Corporation for Peace and Social Development (Corpades), a Colombian human rights organisation.

Videos posted on social media by social service organisations and local media show a vehicle carrying five people being set ablaze at the scene, while a shootout left a sixth person dead.

Corpades said authorities were investigating the incident to verify the death toll and identify those responsible for the violence.

The attack occurred a day after a similar incident in the municipality of Algeciras, also in Huila, in which two men and a woman were killed.

The Ombudsman’s Office has issued warnings about the presence of several criminal gangs and the expansion of dissident factions of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the region.

--NNN-XINHUA