Attacks directed against Colombian security forces leave 27 dead in two weeks

The Colombian government says that 15 police officers and 12 soldiers have been killed in the last two weeks in attacks aimed at those who blame the armed groups.

President Gustavo Petro accused the criminal gang of the Gulf clan and other armed groups of members aimed at members of the security forces in revenge for the recent murder of several of their leaders.

The Government has offered a reward for the information that leads to the arrest of those behind the attacks.

Petro was chosen with a promise to bring “total peace” to Colombia, but on Friday his Interior Minister acknowledged that the strategy “was not going well”, after the collapse of the conversations with the Gulf clan and several other armed groups.

Petro published a list in X Of the names of the 15 police and 12 soldiers who, according to him, had been “systematically” since April 15.

According to the list, 10 of the police were killed in service, while five were killed out of service.

Seven of the soldiers on the list died in a single ambush on Sunday in the province of Guaviare. The Army has blamed that attack on a rebel group of FARC.

The FARC, abbreviation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, signed a peace agreement with the Government in 2016 and most of its combatants placed their weapons.

But a considerable number of FARC rebels who did not agree with the agreement formed dissident groups that have continued to fight against security forces.

In an effort to bring peace to Colombia, the Petro government had conversations with some of these dissident groups, as well as with rebels of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and members of the Gulf clan criminal gang.

But Petro suspended the conversations with the ELN in January, accusing him of not having “any will to peace.”

He also chose not to renew a high fire with a rebel group of FARC dissident in April.

The conversations with the Gulf clan also stagnated after the police launched an operation against the group leader, known as “Bad Chiquito” (Spanish for “Bad Shorty”), in February.

Chiquito Mala escaped unharmed, but days later, another main leader, known as “terror”, and the police murdered their bodyguards.

The Colombian government says that the Gulf clan ordered its members to kill police officers and soldiers out of service in revenge for these operations.