Watchdog says armed groups on the rebound

Colombia's once-weakened armed groups are growing their power again, the country's ombudswoman said on Monday, as the country heads toward its most violent year in a decade.

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Fuelled by renewed competition over drug trafficking routes, cartels and guerilla groups are cementing their control of pockets of the country outside major cities.

"There is a very serious dynamic of expansion of the groups and fragmentation among them," Iris Marin said in an interview with AFP.

Almost a decade after landmark peace accords, data shows that Colombia faces surging levels of displacement, rising killings of social leaders and new threats to civilians from explosiveladen drones.

"This year, 2025, the situation has intensified," she said. "Undoubtedly, the civilian population is suffering greatly."