Two children were shot and wounded when men thought to be members of the ELN rebel group attacked vehicles on a road in Colombia, authorities said Tuesday. The children, aged 12 and 13, were hit when assailants opened fire on the bus they were passengers in as its driver tried to reverse out of the path of danger, a police official told AFP. They were taken to a nearby medical center. It happened as armed men attacked the bus and two trucks on a route in the country's northwest late Monday, setting fire to all three vehicles. The army said in a statement the attackers were members of the ELN. The security forces have since regained control of the route linking the city of Medellin to the coast. The National Liberation Army (ELN) is the last active rebel group operating in Colombia since a 2016 peace deal ended a half-century of civil war between armed groups and the government. The ELN has about 2,300 active combatants and a vast support network. Colombia is facing its worst wave of violence since the signing of the 2016 deal, with dissident FARC rebels who refused to lay down arms, ELN guerillas, armed drug-trafficking groups and rightwing paramilitaries all battling for control of the lucrative cocaine and illegal mining markets. lv/dl/vel/rs/mlr/bfm