Two Colombian politicians, four others killed

A woman running for small town mayor and a candidate for city council were among six people shot and killed in Colombia, an official said Monday. An armored car carrying all six was hit by long-range weapons and later set on fire in the attack Sunday night in southwest Cauca department, the regional ombudsman Jair Rossi told AFP.

Karina Garcia was running for mayor of the town of Suarez in October elections. The other fatalities included her mother and the city council candidate. The Suarez area is torn by violence stemming from drug trafficking and illegal mining, Rossi said.

Garcia had received threats from supporters of other candidates, her father Orlando Garcia said. The High Commissioner for Peace, Miguel Ceballos, blamed the attack on the leader of a local group of dissidents who broke with the leftist FARC rebel army.

Most of the group accepted a peace deal with the government in 2016. But its chief negotiator Ivan Marquez and other leaders announced last week they were returning to arms, accusing the government of not living up to its side of peace accord, designed to end 50 years of fighting. Defense Minister Guillermo Botero offered a $29,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of that local dissident leader, who goes by the nom de guerre Mayimbu.