S.O.S. calls as ten more Indians are 'vilely massacred'

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Ten Colombian Indians have been killed while trying to flee from the violent conflict that has engulfed their homes and families.

The Indians, from the Awa tribe, were attacked by an unidentified armed group. The names of the Awa killed are also not yet known.

Colombia’s national Indigenous peoples’ organisation, ONIC, has called the killings ‘a vile massacre’ and issued an urgent S.O.S. to Colombian and international media.

These latest killings come only days after reports that at least another eight Awa have recently been killed. According to Awa authorities, heavy fighting between the Colombian army and guerrilla groups FARC and the ELN took place inside the Awa territory on February 4.

After the fighting, eight Indians were taken to a remote spot and killed with guns and knives. ONIC hold FARC responsible for these killings.

The Awa, like many of Colombia’s Indigenous peoples, have suffered for years as a result of violent conflict between the Colombian army, guerrillas and paramilitary groups encroaching on and destroying their land. Out of more than 100 Indigenous groups in Colombia, twenty-eight are considered to be ‘in imminent danger of physical and cultural extinction’ – including the Nukak hunter-gatherers.

The Awa of Colombia are unrelated to the remote Awa tribe of the Brazilian Amazon.