BOGOTA, March 31, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Four civilians, including an Indigenous
governor and a teenager, were among 11 people the Colombian army killed in
what it said was a military operation against suspected guerrillas involved
in drugs trafficking, human rights groups said Wednesday.

  "Those killed by the army were not guerrillas, but civilians, including
indigenous comrades," said Oscar Daza, spokesman for Opiac, an organization
that brings together the Indigenous peoples of the Colombian Amazon.

  Among the victims were the Quechua governor Pablo Panduro, as well as
community leader Divier Hernandez and his wife, rights groups said.

  The ombudsman's office, a state human rights agency, also reported the
death of a 16-year-old and demanded "quick clarification of the facts."

  The army had said the day before it had killed 11 suspected dissidents from
the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) whom the government
alleged were involved in drug trafficking, in an operation on the border with
Peru.

  Opiac did not provide details about the seven other people reported to have
been killed in the fighting.

  Human Rights Watch also said that "during the army operation, an indigenous
governor, a community leader and his wife were killed."

  "There is an urgent need to clarify the facts," said Juan Pappier, the
NGO's senior researcher for the Americas.

  Without mentioning the fighting, the Colombian prosecutor's office said on
Twitter that it was opening an investigation into "the events in Puerto
Leguizamo where 11 people died."