Colombia: Soldier dies after Venezuelan migrants attack base

Some 200 Venezuelan migrants attacked a Colombian military base with explosives, killing one soldier and wounding more than a dozen others, a top military official said on Monday.

Army general Omar Sepulveda said the migrants were "co-opted" by Colombian guerrillas to launch the attack in El Tarra, a border town in the northeastern Norte de Santander department.

One soldier was killed by "an explosive device" and at least 16 others were wounded during the attack on Saturday.

"Approximately 95 percent" of the attackers were Venezuelans "institutionalized" by dissidents of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group, Sepulveda told W Radio.

The migrants tried to "overrun" the barracks using "improvised explosive devices, sling-shots, sticks, and Molotov cocktails," he added.

Sepulveda blamed the attack on dissident John Mechas, who refused to lay down arms and join the historic 2016 peace deal that turned the FARC into a communist political party following a half-century of conflict with the state.

The region around El Tarra also has the largest number of illegal coca leaf plantations in the world, according to the United Nations.

Coca is the main ingredient in cocaine and several groups of leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers are battling for territorial control to exploit the lucrative narcotics market.

Colombia's army said it was sending anti-riot troops to the region where local authorities declared a curfew until Tuesday morning.