Twenty-three people have been reported killed so far in Colombia's Arauca province amid fighting between illegal armed groups, Defense Minister Diego Molano told a news conference late on Monday.
Fighting broke out over the weekend in Arauca - which sits on the border with Venezuela - as members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) fought with dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who reject a 2016 peace deal.
The groups were fighting over control of illegal economies such as drug trafficking, Colombia's army said in a statement late on Sunday. The violence also displaced 12 families, Colombia's human rights ombudsman said.
The violence harks back to the mid-2000s, when the FARC and ELN fought each other in Arauca and the neighboring Venezuelan state of Apure.
REUTERS