BOGOTA, Dec 3, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - A dozen people have been killed in southwestern Colombia since Saturday due to fighting between two dissident factions of the defunct FARC guerilla group, a local government official said Monday.

"Twelve have been killed in battles since November 30," Yovani Cortes, secretary of the Puerto Guzman municipality, told La FM radio station.

The clashes in the southwestern Putumayo department were between fighters led by a commander under the alias of Calarca and members of the Segunda Marquetalia, a military source told AFP.

On the border of Ecuador, Putumayo has disputed territories planted with coca, the main component of cocaine.

Calarca is one of the top leaders of a guerilla faction that has been in peace negotiations with Colombian authorities since October 2023.

Segunda Marquetalia is facing internal divisions over its leadership during its own talks with President Gustavo Petro's government.

Petro, Colombia's first left-wing president, is trying to defuse the six-decade-old armed conflict by holding peace talks with various guerrilla groups and criminal gangs.