Sharjah 24 – AFP: At least 15 people were killed over the last two days in Colombia in a spate of violent incidents, authorities said, highlighting the huge task facing President Gustavo Petro.

Police said the powerful Gulf Clan drug trafficking gang carried out the attack on members of the rival Los Costenos group.

Five Venezuelan migrants, accused of being involved in the murders, were then lynched by vigilantes in an apparent act of revenge.

The local mayor had told a national radio station that the murderers were "people from Venezuela" who wanted "to steal money" and used knives to kill their victims.

Following the attack, an injured employee of the murdered family alerted neighbors, who "took justice into their own hands and killed" the five attackers, said the mayor.

Petro, Colombia's first left-wing president, vowed following his June election victory to bring about "total peace" in the conflict-ravaged country.

Colombia has suffered six decades of conflict involving leftist guerrillas, drug traffickers, right-wing paramilitaries and state forces.