Vehicle where eight agents were killed in an attack in San Luis, near Neiva, Huila. August 2, 2022RR SSOeight police officers have been murdered this Friday in the village of Corozal near Neiva, Huila, in the center of the country. The uniformed men were attacked with explosives and rifle bursts in an ambush, according to local media reports. The attack occurred around 2:30 p.m., when a device was activated as a vehicle from the institution passed by, leaving eight dead at the moment. The president, Gustavo Petro, rejected the crime and announced an investigation. “These events express a clear sabotage of total peace,” he wrote on Twitter, just a few minutes after the massacre was confirmed. Tonight, the president will travel to the area, where a unified command post will be installed. This year more than 30 policemen have been assassinated throughout the country. The authorities have indicated a pistol plan behind these crimes, which target young police officers, patrolmen and women. This Friday has been the worst attack against the institution under the new government, which began its term on August 7, with the difficult challenge of curbing violence in Colombia. “I reject the slight attack committed this afternoon against police officers from the San Luis substation, Neiva. All my solidarity with the families of the 8 murdered servers. The Armed Forces must respond forcefully to this attack on peace,” Defense Minister Iván Velásquez wrote at the end of the afternoon. The Prosecutor’s Office has announced that a team of experts and criminalists are traveling to the area where the crime occurred, once again shakes the Police. Several hours after the attack, the bodies of the uniformed men were still lying on the road. “We reject the vile murder against our eight uniformed men. We send a message of solidarity to his family and we have our capabilities to find the whereabouts of those responsible, “said the command of the Armed Forces in a statement. The general, Helder Fernan Giraldo, is also traveling to the capital of Huila, from where he will support the operational deployment that is being carried out at the scene. Luis Fernando Trejos, professor at the Universidad del Norte and conflict expert, explained a few years ago days that the so-called pistol plan, as the order of an armed group to systematically assassinate members of the public force is known, is part of the strategy of the armed groups to reposition themselves before the arrival of the new Government. The authorities have not blamed any organization for the attack, but two dissident groups from the extinct FARC are present in that region. Colombia closes one of the most violent weeks of the year. The previous weekend there were four massacres, and two leaders and two journalists were killed. The NGO Indepaz reports that in 2022 there have been 72 massacres, 11 since Gustavo Petro came to power. Senator Iván Cepeda, who has the difficult task of landing Petro’s “total peace” proposal in Congress, has recognized this week that everything lies ahead. “We must redouble efforts to end the violence in the territories,” he acknowledged. Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS newsletter on Colombia and receive all the key information on the country’s current affairs.