By DPA
Bogota : Around 1,500 people have left their homes in south-western Colombia for fear of landmines planted in the area by leftist rebels, a television report said.
Residents of Samaniego in Narino province have set up tents in a mountainous area in the region after minefields killed three people in recent weeks, Caracol TV reported Friday.
The most recent case occurred Thursday, when a 12-year-old boy died when he stepped on a mine. His father suffered serious injuries.
Military authorities have accused the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) of planting the mines.
One resident of Samaniego, Maria Leyton, asked the authorities for help, noting that food is scarce in the improvised camps.
Anti-personnel land mines have caused several deaths in Colombia in recent days.
The army said Thursday that four soldiers had been killed in a minefield explosion as they fought leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in a rural area of the Tolima province in the country’s centre-west.
On Wednesday, Colombian authorities said three people – one soldier and two peasants – had died in separate mine explosions that left another three people injured, in the northern Cordoba province and south-western Huila province.
Colombian authorities have admitted that the country is unlikely to fulfil its commitment to eradicate all anti-personnel land mines from its territory by 2011, in accordance with the Ottawa Treaty. Rebel groups in the troubled South American nation continue to plant mines.
In 2007 alone, 879 people were victims of landmines in Colombia, according to official statistics. According to the figures, 190 people died and 689 were injured.