Nepal UK
Picture: AP
BOGOTA, Colombia — At least 17 people were killed in Colombia on Thursday following a car bomb and a separate attack on a police helicopter, authorities said. President Gustavo Petro attributed both incidents to dissidents of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Twelve police officers died when a helicopter, transporting personnel to northern Antioquia to eradicate coca crops, was attacked. Initially, Petro reported eight fatalities, but Antioquia Governor Andrés Julián confirmed four more later, while three officers remain injured. Preliminary reports suggest a drone strike may have caused a fire on the aircraft, Colombian Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez said.
Meanwhile, in southwest Colombia’s Cali, a vehicle loaded with explosives detonated near a military aviation school, killing five people and injuring more than 30. Authorities said an alleged member of a FARC dissident group has been arrested in connection with the explosion.
Petro initially blamed the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest active drug cartel, for the helicopter attack, suggesting it was retaliation for a cocaine seizure. Both FARC dissidents and Gulf Clan members are known to operate in Antioquia.
The attacks come amid rising coca leaf cultivation in Colombia, which reached a record 253,000 hectares in 2023, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
(Sources: AP and RSS reporting)
