Nine shot dead "at party" outside Medellín

Media reported the assassination of nine people in a country house south of the city of Medellín in northern Colombia on 31 December. Police were investigating the victims' identities but suspected the killings to be related to drug trafficking, RCN La Radio reported. One of the dead was identified as "possibly" a drug trafficker or head of the criminal gang known as the Oficina de Envigado, the broadcaster Caracol reported. The dead were found in a country house in the district of Envigado; neighbours reportedly told police they had heard nothing but the sound of loud music at the house. Several violent crimes were reported around the country in the closing days of 2012. RCN reported the shooting deaths of four people in the south-western city of Cali on 28 December, including of a child or teenager of unspecified age and a boy aged 19. A 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death in the northern city of Bucaramanga on 29 December as he resisted a bid by two thieves to steal his cap, Caracol Radio reported. The same day a man was shot to death in a "public establishment," perhaps a bar, in Cúcuta north-east of Bucaramanga, Caracol reported.