At least 14 people were killed and 38 others injured in a bomb attack on a highway in southwestern Colombia on Saturday, highlighting a surge in violence just weeks before the country’s presidential election.The bomb exploded after the attackers stopped traffic, using a bus and another vehicle to block the road.Authorities said the explosion occurred in the conflict-prone province of Cauca, a coca-growing region long plagued by unrest, and blamed splinter factions of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for the attack, according to what Agence France-Presse reported.“Those who carried out this attack… are terrorists, fascists and drug traffickers,” he added.
“I want our best soldiers to confront them,” President Gustavo Petro said in a post on X.The president attributed the attack to Ivan Mordesco, Colombia’s most wanted fugitive, and compared him to slain drug lord Pablo Escobar.“So far, we have reported that 14 people have been killed and more than 38 others have been injured, including five minors,” Cauca Governor Octavio Guzman announced Saturday night on Canal X.A police source said that rescue teams continue to search for many people who were considered missing.
The explosion on the Pan American Highway destroyed buses and vans, overturned several vehicles and left a huge hole in the road. The bodies of the victims were scattered among the wreckage and covered with sheets while emergency teams worked at the scene.The bombing is the latest in a wave of attacks targeting public infrastructure, with at least 26 incidents reported across southwestern Colombia in the past two days, according to the Associated Press.These attacks include a shooting at a police station in the rural district of Jamundi and an attack on a civil aviation radar facility in El Tambo, where authorities had earlier intercepted and neutralized three explosive-laden drones on Saturday.Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday that the authorities had intensified the deployment of the army and police in the affected areas.Colombia has long faced armed groups that finance their operations through drug trafficking, illegal mining and extortion, and often seek to influence elections through violence.
Splinter factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which rejected the 2016 peace deal, have also been accused of trying to derail peace efforts stalled under President Gustavo Petro.Security has emerged as a central issue ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for May 31, with political violence returning to the spotlight last June when conservative candidate Miguel Uribe Torbay was shot in broad daylight while campaigning in the capital, Bogotá.