BOGOTA, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 people were massacred over the weekend as they were gathered outside in the small rural community of La Sagrada Familia, in Lopez de Micay, a town in western Colombia's Valle del Cauca department, Governor Dilian Francisca Toro confirmed Tuesday.

The governor told Colombian news network Caracol Radio that the victims, seven men and five women, were killed by suspected members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group and the Jaime Martinez Front, which comprise dissidents of the disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

"This is the result of a clash between them over the routes of the illicit economies," she said, referring to drug trafficking and other illegal activities. "They basically executed them, it was a massacre."

Despite the government's efforts to strengthen a so-called "Total Peace" policy in the region, there have been ongoing clashes between the ELN and other armed groups, leading area residents to leave for other parts, said the governor.

The Sept. 8 attack is one of nearly 50 similar violent clashes in the country so far this year, according to the Institute for Development and Peace Studies (Indepaz). Enditem

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