International

Five dead in attack on Colombia-Ecuador border

| By AFP |

Gunmen killed five people in southern Colombia on the border with Ecuador, authorities said on Wednesday.

Attackers on motorbikes opened fire indiscriminately at a group of eight people on Tuesday night, said Putumayo department police chief colonel Jorge Salinas.

Five people died at the scene and the other three, including two women, were injured, Salinas told a local radio station.

The area of the attack was known to be frequented by drug addicts.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

Police suspect a faction of dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels called the Border Commandos to be behind the attack.

Marxist FARC guerrillas signed a peace treaty with the government in December 2016 to end a half centry of conflict with the state and create a communist political party.

But some dissidents refused to lay down their arms and continue to carry out attacks on the armed forces and civilians, while mostly funding their campaign through drug trafficking.

The Border Commandos were involved in a clash with another group of FARC dissidents in Putumayo a month ago, in which at least 20 suspected fighters died.

Armed groups throughout the country are fighting over territory and the lucrative drug trafficking trade.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine, much of which is shipped out of Ecuador to the United States — the number one market — and Europe.

Following the murders, Colombia President Gustavo Petro and his Ecuadoran counterpart Guillermo Lasso proposed joint operations along the shared 586-kilometer (364-mile) long border in a Twitter exchange.

Petro said these operations would target the “mafias that use the border as a drug trafficking route.”

Lasso replied that he could “count on our active support.”

Petro, who is Colombia’s first leftist president, has vowed to negotiate with armed groups and drug traffickers in a bid to achieve a “total peace” in a country that has now suffered almost six decades of conflict.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

Initial talks with these groups, including the rebel National Liberation Army, or ELN, have not so far resulted in a reduction in violence.

On Wednesday the ELN announced it was launching an “armed strike” in a poor region of northeastern Colombia beginning Thursday evening.

The rise in tensions comes at a poor time for Petro’s government, which had announced early this week it had successfully concluded a first round of negotiations with the guerrillas — although no formal ceasefire was reached.

Colombian officials say the ELN currently has some 2,500 members and is mainly present in the Pacific region and along the 2,200-kilometre border with Venezuela.

According to the Indepaz NGO, there have been 93 massacres this year in Colombia, leaving scores of victims.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

International

Two killed in shooting at restaurant near Frankfurt Airport

Two people were shot dead early Tuesday at a restaurant in Raunheim, near Frankfurt Airport, according to local police.

Preliminary findings indicate that an armed individual entered the establishment at around 03:45 local time (02:45 GMT) and opened fire on the victims, who died at the scene from their injuries.

The suspect fled and remains at large, while the motive behind the shooting is still unclear, German media reported. Authorities have launched a large-scale search operation.

International

U.S. counterterrorism chief resigns over opposition to war in Iran

Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced Tuesday that he has resigned from his post, citing his opposition to the ongoing war in Iran.

In a post on X, Kent said he could not, “in good conscience,” support the conflict, arguing that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the United States. He also claimed that the war was driven by pressure from Israel and its lobbying influence in Washington.

In a resignation letter addressed to Donald Trump, Kent alleged that at the start of the current administration, senior Israeli officials and influential figures in U.S. media carried out a disinformation campaign that undermined the “America First” platform and fostered pro-war sentiment aimed at triggering a conflict with Iran.

Kent further stated that he could not support sending a new generation of Americans to “fight and die in a war that provides no benefit to the American people and does not justify the cost in American lives.”

Since the United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran on February 28, at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed, while 10 others have been seriously wounded and around 200 have sustained minor injuries, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

International

German president warns Iran war could spread and disrupt Strait of Hormuz

The president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned Monday that the war involving Iran could expand and further disrupt shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. He urged a swift end to hostilities between Iran, United States and Israel.

Speaking in Panama City during a joint appearance with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, Steinmeier said available information suggests Iran has significant capacity to disrupt maritime traffic through the key oil route.

“Iran has considerable potential to interfere with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” Steinmeier said through an interpreter. “We should therefore reach an end to the hostilities as soon as possible and call on all parties involved to make that happen.”

The remarks came during Steinmeier’s visit to Panama, the first by a German president to the Central American nation.

The German leader described the possibility of the conflict spreading as “very dangerous,” saying recent developments indicate that such a scenario cannot be ruled out.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump urged allied nations to help ensure safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran moved to block the waterway in response to U.S. strikes. However, several allies—particularly in Europe—have shown little support for the proposal.

“Some are very enthusiastic, others are not, and some are countries we have helped for many years,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We have protected them from terrible external threats, and they’re not that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm is important to me.”

Meanwhile, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said the Strait of Hormuz falls “outside NATO’s scope” and stressed that “the war involving Iran is not Europe’s war.”