Curfew imposed after bomb attacks in Colombia injure 6
Police and military have blamed the ELN group for attacks near Colombia’s border with Venezuela
Guerilla fighters carried out four bomb attacks that wounded six people in a restive region of northeast Colombia, prompting officials to declare an overnight curfew Thursday and stoking concerns for a fragile peace process.
The police and military blamed the ELN group, with which the government called off peace talks last month, for the attacks in a cocaine-producing region near Colombia’s border with Venezuela on Wednesday night.
A car bomb all but destroyed a toll booth outside the city of Villa del Rosario, while explosives were also detonated at police stations in the same city and in neighbouring Cucuta, police commander General William Quintero told W Radio.
A source in the Norte de Santander departmental government, of which Cucuta is the capital, told Agence France-Presse on Thursday that six people were injured.
Cucuta Mayor Jorge Acevedo announced an 11-hour curfew starting at 7pm Thursday, with schools closed on Friday.
Analysts say the security situation in Colombia has deteriorated under President Gustavo Petro’s peace drive, which has seen an easing of the state’s military offensive against armed groups, who are gaining strength.