One soldier was killed and another wounded in an attack by the Clan del Golfo on a patrol that carried out registration and control tasks in Tierralta, in the Colombian department of Córdoba, the Army reported this Saturday.
The attack, which occurs in the midst of the onslaught of this criminal gang of paramilitary origin against the Police, occurred on Friday in the Limón hamlet, where troops from the Voltígeros No.46 Infantry Battalion were. “As a result of this terrorist action, soldier Blas Andrés Soto Carrascal was killed and one more was injured, who was immediately treated by military rescuers. Later, he was transferred to a hospital, where he is recovering satisfactorily at this time,” the command said. of the Seventeenth Brigade of the Army in a statement.
(Also read: Clan del Golfo: ringleader linked to attacks against the Police falls)
For his part, the Colombian president, Iván Duque, “flatly condemned the murder” of soldier Soto and assured that the authorities and the public force are effective and will find “criminals who have no lair.”
The Colombian government deployed more than a thousand men from the public force on Friday to reinforce security in five departments in the face of the threat of a possible “armed strike” by the Clan del Golfo. The reinforcements will be for the departments of Sucre, Bolívar, Córdoba, Antioquia and Cesar, according to Defense Minister Diego Molano.
Since the Colombian government extradited the top leader of the Clan del Golfo, Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias “Otoniel”, last May, this group began a campaign of retaliation.
(Read also: Leidy Sánchez, murdered, had only been a patrolman for a month)
The attack included a week of armed strike that put the north and northwest of the country in check last May and a “pistol plan” against the Police and the Army.
During the six days of the armed strike, 145 damages occurred in nine departments, especially in the Caribbean and the Northwest, which included 22 murders, four roadblocks and three armed confrontations, according to the Peace & Reconciliation Foundation (Pares).
According to police figures, this year 36 agents have been murdered throughout the country after the resurgence of the so-called “pistol plan” of some armed groups against them. Of the 36 murders, according to Minister Diego Molano, at least 18 are the responsibility of the Clan del Golfo.
In the so-called “armed strike” the population is affected because in them the mobility of people is prevented, the movement of vehicles on highways and the closure of businesses and in general of any commercial activity is forced.
EFE