(CNN Spanish) – A massacre perpetrated in the municipality of Algeciras, in Huila, left at least nine dead, according to statements that Franky Vega, secretary of the government of the department located in southwest Colombia, published on his social networks this Monday.

The official pointed out that the events occurred in the rural area of ​​this municipality, in an area known as Quebradón Alto. According to his testimony, eight men and one woman lost their lives, while they still seek to “identify the material authors of the massacre.”

Vega added that “judicial police authorities are in the place, removing bodies and collecting evidence to advance the investigations that result in the clarification of these facts.”

Earlier, the Ministry of Defense had reported on Twitter the dispatch of Army troops so that, together with the Police and the Prosecutor’s Office, “the facts are verified and investigated.”