Colombian city faces worst violence in decades as armed groups wreak havoc

Residents of a violence-torn province in northern Colombia are bracing for further bloodshed as a conflict between rival armed groups spread to a regional capital in scenes residents said they had not witnessed since the cartel unrest of the 1990s.

The mayor of Cúcuta imposed a 48-hour curfew on the population of 1 million inhabitants in the hope of regaining control of the city after combatants of Colombia’s largest armed group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), attacked police stations with assault rifles and grenades and destroyed toll booths with car bombs.

At least six were injured as the Colombian army skirmished with dozens of combatants.

The wave of violence is the latest blow to President Gustavo Petro’s failing efforts to bring peace to Colombia by dialoguing with armed groups and 122,000 people in northern Colombia now require urgent assistance, according to the humanitarian organization Project Hope.

Read more: The Guardian (UK)