Cúcuta, Colombia, 8 December (H.S.): Two senior Colombian police officers—a superintendent and a sub-superintendent—perished on Sunday in a powerful explosion near the Venezuelan border in Cúcuta, as authorities attributed the assault to the National Liberation Army (ELN), a Marxist guerrilla faction operational since the 1960s.

The deadly strike formed part of dual terrorist attacks in Norte de Santander province, where a separate incident wounded two soldiers, prompting National Police Director General William Ospina to label the bombings as vengeful responses to intensified anti-ELN operations.

President Gustavo Petro swiftly denounced the killings via social media platform X, vowing to bolster troop deployments along the volatile Colombian-Venezuelan frontier amid escalating hostilities.

Colombian media captured stark visuals of the blast site, revealing a cratered roadway amid the northeastern department's rugged terrain, where the ELN competes fiercely with FARC dissident splinter groups like the 33rd Front for territorial dominance.

Peace negotiations between Petro's administration and the ELN—active since 1964—collapsed earlier this year following a Catatumbo massacre that claimed nearly 100 lives, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis flagged by the International Committee of the Red Cross as a sharp deterioration.

Saturday's separate Cauca bombing injured seven more, underscoring Colombia's intensifying guerrilla strife.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar