A terrorist wave shook Colombia’s border with Venezuela in recent hours where unknown persons destroyed with explosives the toll located on the international highway that connects Cúcuta with San Antonio del Táchira and shot police posts, leaving at least five people injured by the attack, the authorities confirmed on Thursday.

The injured are three workers of the National Institute of Roads (Invías) and two guards of the toll that suffered the attack, located in Villa del Rosario, a municipality of the metropolitan area of Cúcuta, capital of the department of Norte de Santander and the main border crossing of Colombia with Venezuela.

“The toll was completely destroyed,” said the Secretary of Citizen Security of Norte de Santander, George Quintero, on Thursday, who offered a reward of “up to one hundred million pesos (about 25,000 dollars) to find those responsible for the violent events of the last few hours.”

Almost simultaneously this morning they attacked with shots a police post located in the Historical Temple, in front of the Home of General Francisco de Paula Santander, one of the heroes of Independence, also in Villa del Rosario, and the La Parada Police station, currently under construction.

No authority has confirmed the authorship of these attacks, although it is suspected that they may have been perpetrated by the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN), which operates in the region and which in recent days has placed bomb cylinders on some roads in Norte de Santander.

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The wave of violence occurs a day after several governors claimed the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, for the aggravation of the armed conflict in several parts of the country, during a meeting of the president with regional authorities.

“There is a very complicated perception in the country regarding security,” said William Villamizar, governor of Norte de Santander, where the Catatumbo region is located, hit for a month by the ELN’s onslaut against a FARC disssency that has left at least 63 dead and more than 50,000 displaced.

Villamizar, who spoke as a spokesman for his colleagues from the 32 Colombian departments, made a call to “strengthen the intelligence and work of the Military Forces” with an increase in the strength in several regions.

The same concern was expressed by the governor of Chocó, Nubia Carolina Córdoba, since in her department the ELN fights with the Gulf Clan, the main Colombian criminal gang, which until last week had left some 3,600 displaced and more than 12,000 people confined.

“I have raised my voice in recent days on behalf of the department of Chocó and on behalf of the communities of the department of Chocó because it is a real humanitarian crisis and international humanitarian law (IHL),” said Córdoba.

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On the other hand, material damage to homes and shops left an attack with explosives launched on Wednesday night against a temporary detention center in Popayán, capital of the convulsive department of Cauca, in southwestern Colombia.

The commander of the Metropolitan Police of Popayán, Colonel Jhon Fredy Zambrano, told reporters that “no effects were presented to people who remain deprived of liberty, nor to our personnel.”

Likewise, he assured that the possible use of drones in the attack is being investigated and that surveillance was reinforced in the area and a sweep was also carried out to rule out that there were other explosives.