Colombia president vows to replace officers after coca clash | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Colombia president vows to replace officers after coca clash

BOGOTA - More than 100 police officers in a remote Colombian region where several coca growers were killed in an apparent clash with security forces will be replaced in a bid to restore the community's confidence in authorities.

President Juan Manuel Santos said on Twitter Tuesday that he has instructed the nation's police director to transfer out 102 officers in Tumaco.

Six farmers were killed on Thursday as officers tried to eradicate illegal coca crops.

The government initially blamed the deaths on a dissident faction of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. But Colombia's ombudsman's office says eyewitness accounts point to police as the ones behind the slayings.

The United Nations says a humanitarian mission it led trying to reach the site Sunday was stopped by police using stun grenades.

News from © The Associated Press, 2017
The Associated Press

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