At least 18 people died and more than forty were injured on Thursday after two attacks in Colombia attributed to different dissident factions of the former FARC guerrilla group, according to a report by Reuters citing authorities.
“In Cali, the country’s third most populated city, a cargo vehicle with explosives detonated near a Colombian Aerospace Force base, in an incident that left six people dead and 71 injuries,” according to the mayor’s office.
Hours earlier, a National Police Black Hawk UH-60 helicopter participating in a coca leaf crop eradication operation was shot down in the municipality of Amalfi, in the department of Antioquia, leaving 12 officers dead.
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro blamed the attacks on dissident factions of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group that rejected a 2016 peace agreement to end a prolonged internal conflict that has left more than 450,000 dead.
President Gustavo Petro initially attributed the helicopter attack to the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest active drug cartel, suggesting it was a retaliatory strike following a major cocaine seizure linked to the group.
In a post on X, Petro said, “This is one of the alleged perpetrators of the attack in Cali with a truck/bomb, captured by the community at the scene of the incident. He is alias Sebastián and belongs to the structures of the EMC, led by alias Marlon, subordinate to the Drug Trafficking Board.”
Both FARC dissident groups, who refused to sign the 2016 peace deal, and the Gulf Clan are known to operate in the Antioquia region, where the helicopter was downed.
Meanwhile, coca leaf cultivation continues to rise in Colombia, with the total area under cultivation reaching a record 253,000 hectares in 2023, according to the latest data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
(This is a developing story)
(With inputs from Reuters)
FARC dissident groups, Gulf Clan, coca leaf cultivation, Colombia, Antioquia region
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