An apparent bomb attack in Colombia's restive southwest wounded 17 people Monday including three children and two police officers, authorities said, amid growing concern for a fragile peace process.

A device, probably a bomb attached to a motorcycle, exploded outside a police station in the town of Morales, Octavio Guzman, governor of the Cauca department, reported on X.

A seven-year-old girl was hospitalized with serious injuries, he said, and two police officers required treatment.

Colombia is battling to extricate itself from six decades of armed conflict between leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug cartels and government forces. 

The South American country has seen an uptick in violence as peace talks with remaining groups have broken down several times since a deal inked in 2016 led to the disarmament of the FARC — then the biggest guerrilla army in the world. 

Morales mayor Oscar Yamit Guacheta posted a video on social media of dozens of people, including schoolchildren, fleeing after Monday's powerful explosion.

The authorities have not apportioned blame for the attack in a region controlled by rebel fighters of the Central General Staff (EMC) — a group of peace deal naysayers who broke away from the FARC. 

The UN Human Rights Office on Monday warned there had been "an expansion and consolidation" of armed groups in different parts of Colombia.

There are hotspots of fighting in the country's northeast, northwest and southwest.

Last week, four bomb attacks in two cities near Colombia's border with Venezuela injured six people, prompting officials to declare an overnight curfew. That attack was blamed on the ELN guerrilla group.