Authorities in southwestern Colombia say at least three children and one woman were killed and 12 adults wounded in a mortar attack they are blaming on leftist rebels.
The security chief of Nariño department, Fabio Trujillo, says the under age victims were eight, 11 and 12.
"These are preliminary numbers, remote areas could have also been
affected," he said.
The official added that the self-made, shrapnel-laden bombs were lobbed into the town of Roberto Payan at midday Tuesday.
Provincial police chief Col. William Alberto Montezuma says they landed about 100 yards (meters) from a police post.
Trujillo said three of the wounded were in critical condition and being evacuated to the regional capital of Pasto.
Montezuma says Roberto Payan is in a highly unstable region plagued by
leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels and
far-right militias.
