A dead and another wounded military leaves an explosive attack in the Northeast of Colombia

A soldier died and another military was injured this Sunday in the Colombian department of Norte de Santander, a border with Venezuela, in an attack with explosives to the troops that carried out registration and control work, the army reported.

The triguemy command detailed – in a statement – that the military were in the road control post between Cúcuta, the departmental capital, and Puerto Santander, «when they were attacked with the launch of an explosive artifact.»

«In the criminal action, soldier Jhon Pernett Barrios was killed and a noncommissioned officer was injured, who was treated by combat nurses and is out of danger,» added the military information.

The army assured that with these «terrorist acts, illegal armed groups violate international humanitarian law and human rights.»

At the beginning of this month, two police officers were injured in Cúcuta in an attack attributed to the Guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN).

Last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced that the irregular armed groups that operate in the Catatumbo committed «serious abuse» against the inhabitants of that region of Norte de Santander in the middle of the dispute between the ELN guerrillas and the 33rd front of the Disidences of the FARC.

«The ELN and Front 33 have killed, kidnapped and missing civilians. The clashes between the parties and the abuses committed have forced more than 56,000 people to flee their homes, one of the largest mass displacements in Colombia in decades, ”said HRW in the report ‘El Catatumbo: abuse of armed groups and state nonsense’.

The report recalled that the Catatumbo «is a strategic place for drug production and trafficking» and added that «for years, the ELN has benefited from the complicity of Venezuelan security forces» in that region, where since 2018 it also has a growing presence 33 of the dissidents in question.

According to the authorities of Norte de Santander, the clashes that occurred between January 16 and March 8 left 78 people killed, including four children.

EFE