14 people were killed in a bomb attack in southwestern Colombia on Saturday. Seventeen others were injured.
“An explosive was detonated on a road,” said governor of the Cauca region Octavio Guzmán on X. “It is a tragedy that tears us apart as a department and deeply affects our families in their mourning. There are not enough words for the pain we feel today.”
A video Guzmán posted with his message shows victims and destroyed vehicles after the bombing. According to witnesses, the explosion was so powerful that they were thrown back several meters.
Several attacks have been reported in Colombia since Friday, which authorities attribute to dissidents from the disbanded guerrilla group FARC.
Some of the remaining FARC fighters who rejected a peace deal with the government in 2016 are actively disrupting stalled peace talks with the current president, leftist Gustavo Petro. A bomb attack on a military base in Cali on Friday left two people injured.
The violence increases tensions in Colombia in the run-up to the May 31 presidential elections, in which security is one of the central issues.
Left-wing senator Ivan Cepeda, an architect of Petro’s controversial policy of negotiating with armed groups, is leading in the polls, followed by right-wing candidates Abelardo de la Espriella and Paloma Valencia.
All three have reported receiving death threats and are campaigning under heavy security.
