An explosion and shooting attack in Colombia have killed seven police officers.
Police sources said the officers were killed when the vehicle in which they were travelling was hit by explosives.
The government initially reported eight deaths, but later revised the figure to “seven dead and one injured,” officials said.
Three of the officers killed were under the age of 20, according to the national police and the attorney general’s office.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Colombia’s Blu Radio blamed ‘guerrilla groups’ operating in the area.
According to security sources, dissidents from the now-defunct communist guerrilla group Farc operate in the area.
It is Colombia’s “worst attack” on security forces since former guerrilla Gustavo Petro was sworn in as the country’s first left-wing president less than a month ago.
Mr. Petro condemned the attack, calling it “a clear act of sabotage against peace” in a tweet.
Petro was elected on a radical platform that included free higher education, pension reforms, and heavy taxes on idle land. This was a shift for Colombia, which had only ever supported conservative presidents.
Additionally, he promised to completely implement a 2016 peace agreement that put an end to a 50-year war with the Farc and to pursue talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), which is still active and is usually regarded as the last organized guerrilla organization still active in Colombia.
