Two distinct attacks in Colombia left at least 18 dead and dozens injured on Thursday night (21) in one of the most violent episodes since the signing of the Peace Agreement with the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) in 2016.
According to local authorities, a police helicopter was hit by a drone while overwhelming a rural area of Antioch in the north of the country in an operation of eradication of coca plantations. The 12 agents on board died. The Ministry of Defense classified the action as “terrorist” and attributed the authorship to the EMC, the largest dissident faction of the FARC.
Hours later, a bomb car exploded near the Marco Fidel Suárez Military Aviation School in Cali, western Colombian. The detonation killed six people and left more than 60 injured, according to the city’s balance sheet. Witnesses reported destruction of houses and vehicles in the region.
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Cali mayor Alejandro Eder decreed martial law in the city, temporarily banned the circulation of heavy trucks and announced a reward of $ 10,000 for information about those responsible.
President Gustavo Petro stated that the attacks were organized by FARC dissidents and called a Security Council to define new protection measures. In an initial message, he had attributed the helicopter to fall to the criminal group known as the Gulf Clan, but later the investigation was directed to the dissent of the former guerrillas.
The Ministry of Defense has stated on a social network that “the state will not give in to terrorism” and that those responsible will be punished “with all the weight of the law.”
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Violence occurs amid the expansion of coca cultivation areas in the country, which reached a record of 253,000 hectares in 2023, according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
In recent months, drone attacks have multiplied in Colombia. Only in 2024 were 115 incidents of the type, according to official data. Last week, three military personnel died after explosives were released on a control post in the southwest of the country.
(with AFP and BBC)
