At least 39 people have been killed in violent attacks by left-wing guerrillas near Colombia's troubled border with Venezuela.
According to a foreign news agency report, officials said that the government has been forced to suspend high-level peace talks with the group involved after the guerrilla operations.
President Gustavo Petro halted already troubled peace talks with the National Liberation Army, accusing it of war crimes amid a fresh wave of unrest.
In two separate incidents, National Liberation Army fighters targeted a rival leftist group and a powerful paramilitary criminal gang, dashing hopes that the group would surrender voluntarily.
At least 30 people were killed and 20 injured when National Liberation Army fighters targeted dissident members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in several villages and farms, according to the Northeastern Colombian department of the department of North Esencia.
Nine people were killed in the nearby department of Bolivar, in the North Ascension, officials said, as gunmen went door-to-door searching for people affiliated with a rival gang.
The department's governor said the violent incidents began on Thursday and were caused by a territorial dispute linked to the cocaine trade.
Armed groups have been fighting for decades for control of the highly profitable coca plantations, which are located along the Colombia-Venezuela border and fuel cocaine use around the world.
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