More than 32,000 people have fled to towns in northeast Colombia as they attempt to escape a sharp rise in fighting between militant factions, according to the country’s Ombudsman Iris Marín.

Over 80 people have died and tens of thousands have been displaced in escalating violence between armed groups as the border city of Cucuta scrambled Wednesday to cope with thousands of civilians fleeing the violence.

The unusually deadly violence delivers a devastating blow to the “total peace” program of the country’s first leftist president, Gustavo Petro.

The death toll from attacks by a rebel group in Colombia's Catatumbo region has risen to 60, the country's human rights office has said. Rival factions have been vying for control of the cocaine trade in the region - which sits near the border with Venezuela - for years.

The Colombian Army on Monday evacuated people from the communities surrounding an area where guerrilla rebels from the National Liberation Army and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia group have been fighting over the past week.

Clashes between armed groups in Colombia have led to some of the worst violence in the country in years. By Julie Turkewitz Reporting from Bogotá, Colombia At least 80 people are dead and more than 18,

More than 8,000 civilians fled the violence, with many seeking shelter in government facilities or hiding in the mountains.