The officers were ambushed in the locality of Galeras en route to a farm where it was reported that a local administrator had been murdered, according to police sources in Sucre department, on the Caribbean coast. Galeras is 820 kilometers (510 miles) north of Bogota.

"We believe they were FARC because this group operates in the area where the attack occurred," a police spokesman told AFP.

Police are trying to locate the five missing officers, amid concerns they might have been kidnapped by their assailants. Officers have been rushed to the scene in a bid to arrest the attackers.

The authorities attributed the attack to FARC because of the rebel group's strong presence in the region, but other rebel groups and right-wing paramilitaries also operate in the area. It was unclear if there were any other fatalities, or casualties, at the scene.

FARC, Colombia's largest rebel group, has an estimated 17,000 loyalists at arms.

WAR.WIRE