Colombia’s defence minister has denied accusations that army troops massacred eight peasants, including four children, in a remote village in northwest Colombia a week ago, saying no soldiers were in the area at the time.

The disappearance of Carlos Castano, Colombia’s most influential paramilitary leader, is believed to have put the outlawed militias even more firmly in the hands of drug traffickers.

An explosion killed at least four people and injured more than 30 others in an apparent terror attack on a crowded bus in northwest Colombia, police said.

Rescuers have evacuated more than a dozen wounded people from an isolated corner of Colombia after battles between rebels and rival paramilitaries killed 68 civilians, among them 38 children, authorities said.