A suspected truck bomb exploded near a military base in Cali, killing at least five people and injuring dozens on a road beside a military aviation school. Earlier the same day a national police Black Hawk helicopter was shot down over rural Amalfi in Antioquia, killing 12 officers and wounding several while transporting personnel to eradicate coca crops. Antioquia's governor reported a drone attack on the helicopter and criticized delayed rescue and body-recovery efforts due to difficult jungle access. President Gustavo Petro and Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez attributed the attacks to dissident FARC factions, noting EMC involvement and links to narcotics trafficking.
At least five people died in a suspected truck bomb that exploded mid-afternoon Thursday near a military base in Cali, Columbia's third most populated city. Dozens of people were injured in the explosion, which struck on a road adjacent to a military aviation school, according to the mayor's office in Cali, in the South American country's southwest. Hours earlier, a police helicopter was shot down in the department of Antioquia in northern Colombia, killing 12 officers and injuring several others.
The national police Black Hawk helicopter was transporting personnel to the rural Amalfi area to eradicate a coca leaf crops, the raw material used to make cocaine. Antioquia governor Andres Julian said in a post on X that a drone attacked the helicopter as it flew over coca leaf crops. In a later post, he asked why authorities had failed to rescue the injured and recover the bodies of the dead nine hours after the helicopter downing.
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro and Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez blamed the two attacks on dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a now-defunct leftist guerrilla group. In a post on X, Petro called the helicopter attack an "an act of war" committed by the 36th Front of the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), alluding to one of the main FARC splinter groups operating in northeastern Antioquia. Over the years, the EMC has become heavily involved in criminal activities, particularly narcotics trafficking.
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