- The witnesses said that civilians among the dead, many damaged houses.
- The explosion causes panic on the animated street of Cali near the air base.
- The regional governor says that terrorism does not win us.
Five people were killed and dozens were injured when a bomb of vehicles tore a lively street in the Colombian city of Cali on Thursday, local authorities announced.
Police said the bomb had targeted Marco Fidel Suarez Military Aviation School in the north of the city – a new challenge to the country’s fragile peace process before the 2026 elections.
“There was a thunderous noise of something exploding near the air base,” said Hector Fabio Bolanos, 65 -year -old eyewitness AFP.
“There were so many people injured,” he said. “Many houses have been damaged in front of the base.”
Several buildings and a school have been evacuated.
The mayor of Cali, Alejandro Eder, said that preliminary reports indicated that at least five people had been killed and that 36 people had been injured.
He announced the ban on large trucks entering the city, fearing other explosions and a reward of $ 10,000 to obtain information.
Eyewitness Alexis Atizabal, 40, said civilians could be among the dead.
“There have been deaths among the people who went on the avenue,” he said.
He was not immediately clear who was responsible, but the regional governor Dilian Francisca Toro described him as “terrorist attack”.
“Terrorism is not behind,” she said.
In June, the leftist guerrillas claimed a wave of attacks on bombs and firearms in and around Cali who killed seven people.
The group, the central general staff (EMC), rejected a peace agreement in 2016 and increased its operations before the elections in 2026.
Drop
Although the guerrilla groups, paramilitary and cartels always control the expanses of Colombia, the country has experienced a decade or more relative calm.
But there was a recent increase in violence before the presidential elections in 2026.
In an apparently independent attack on Thursday, eight people were killed in clashes between the guerrillas and the police in the northwest of the country.
The police had eradicated Coca crops near the city of Medellin.
Many armed groups of Colombia – once based on left or right ideologies – finance themselves through the lucrative commerce of cocaine.
The attacks put pressure on the government of President Gustavo Petro, whose approach to conciliation for armed groups has been blamed for the rise in violence.
