Three soldiers killed and five wounded in bomb attack on the Army in Antioquia

A unit of the Army's Fourth Brigade was attacked around midnight on Tuesday by members of the Gulf Clan. In the event, three soldiers were killed, five wounded and four others had disappeared.

The Seventh Division of the Army reported in the early morning of April 20 that the unit was moving in the village of Nutibara, in the municipality of Frontino in Antioquia, when it was the target of an attack with explosives.

Apparently, it would have been an ambush, after the military carried out operations against the Gulf Clan in the district of Murrí, which was carried out when they were returning to the town of Frontino and were very close to Frontino, Blu Radio reported.

According to the institution, once the attack occurred, first aid was provided to injured personnel and evacuation began to take them to a medical center. The nearby municipalities, according to the mayor of Frontino, Jorge Hugo Elejalde, told Noticias Caracol, have had five ambulances to evacuate the wounded.

“We are told that there are 8 wounded of whom we already have two at the Nutibara health center, we are sending them to Frontino and we have five ambulances in the area. We reject this insane act,” said the president according to the Caracol Radio station.

“This command sends its sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families of these heroes of the homeland who were vilely murdered while fulfilling their mission of protecting civilians and their resources,” the Army said in a statement.

The troops of the Fourth Brigade deployed military actions to secure the area, after fighting reportedly broke out with the Gulf Clan, as well as to locate the soldiers who had been displaced after the attack.

The Army attributed the armed attack to the Edwin Román Velásquez structure, of the Gulf Clan, whose main leader is alias “Alberto 01″ and is present between the municipalities of Peque and Ituango, in the north of the department of Antioquia.

Several military operations have been carried out against this structure in recent months, with the capture of leaders such as Yovani or alias Orejas, criminals of a broad criminal record, with more than a decade in armed organizations.

Recently, there had also been an attack on the army in the municipality of Ituango, which left three soldiers dead. The incident occurred on April 9 in a rural area against a military vehicle. On that occasion it was attributed to FARC dissidents.

Official reports confirmed at that time the death of professional soldiers: Sebastián Enrique Espitia Fuentes; Enairo Luis Martínez Arciria and Álvaro Andrés Torres Palomino. Another 10 uniformed personnel were injured and are in medical care, one of them is in serious health conditions. These uniforms were taken to the Pablo Tobón Uribe Hospital and the Military Hospital.

According to the structural Early Warning No. 004-2022 of the Ombudsman's Office, in the municipality of Frontino and Urrao the main threat is posed by the ELN Western War Front, as well as the Gulf Clan, who are holding a dispute over territorial control.

Although the organization claims that the ELN is weakened, it maintains “armed influence through the movement of mobile companies transiting the neighboring municipalities of Murindó, Dabeiba and Vigia del Fuerte, as well as by the presence of militiamen infiltrating peasant, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in rural Urrao and Frontino, hence the strong controls exercised by the AGC.”

It is expected that following the attack, an extraordinary security council will be held to define the relevant security actions in the municipality of Frontino. As well as information on the victims of the attack, when family members have been notified.

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