MADRID, 22 (EUROPA PRESS)
At least five people have died and dozens have been injured in a bomb attack carried out Thursday near a military base in Cali, western Colombia, according to President Gustavo Petro, who identified all as civilians.
"The death toll in Cali has risen to five, with 14 injured, all civilians as far as I know," he stated at a press conference, although the local Health Department has raised the preliminary death toll to 36.
The attack took place near the Marco Fidel Suárez Air Base at around 2:50 p.m. local time. The Colombian Aerospace Force reported on social media that a car bomb had exploded and that an investigation was underway to determine who was responsible for the attack.
Petro has attributed the attack to dissidents of the now-defunct FARC guerrilla group, calling it a "terrorist reaction" to the defeats inflicted on the Carlos Patiño column.
"Terrorism is the new expression of the factions that claim to be led by Iván Mordisco and that have subordinated themselves to the control of the drug trafficking junta," the president lamented, vowing to pursue these groups as "terrorist organizations."
For his part, the mayor of Cali, Alejandro Éder, has offered a reward of up to 400 million pesos (more than 85,400 euros) in exchange for information that facilitates the arrest of the perpetrators, in a video posted on his account on the social network X, where he assured that the Mayor's Office "will not lower its guard against this attack."
