At least five Indians were killed and six were wounded in an attack by suspected guerrillas from the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARK) on the Takuejo reservation, in the town of Toribio in the Colombian province of Cauca.
The Association of Toribija Indigenous Assemblies announced that one of the leaders of the Nasa people, Kristina Bautista, was among the victims. It was stated that the attack was carried out by FARK members who did not lay down their arms after the peace agreement between the guerrilla group and the Colombian government in 2016.
The military, which sent troops to Takuejo, said the attackers wanted to free "three people" who had been arrested by Indian guards on the reservation.
Interior Minister Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez took to Twitter to condemn the "violent actions and threats against the indigenous population" in Toribi.
"This is a serious emergency. This is a massacre," said Luis Acosta, the national coordinator of the native guards, a group of men and women armed only with sticks to symbolize their function.
Acosta stated that the Indians are in conflict with FARK dissidents because they "control the territory and do not allow the cultivation of coca and marijuana."
Coca is the main ingredient of cocaine, a drug of which Colombia is the world's largest producer. According to UN data, coca plantations occupy 171.000 hectares in Colombia.
Guerrillas from the National Liberation Army (ELN), the last rebel group in Colombia, are also active in the Cauca region.
The National Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of Colombia (ONIC) condemned the "complicity of silence" of the government of Colombian President Ivan Duque and asked "how long the massacre will last".
The organization said last August that 158 Indian leaders had been killed since the signing of the peace agreement between the government and FARK.
About 1,9 million Indians live in Colombia, and they make up 4,4 percent of the population.
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