At least 18 die in Colombia in attacks attributed to Farc dissidents

Police helicopter shot down in Amalfi municipality as cargo vehicle with explosives detonates in Cali

A police officer inspects the wreckage of a car on the site of a bomb explosion in cali, Colombia on August 21st. Photograph: Iusef Samir Rojas/AFP
A police officer inspects the wreckage of a car on the site of a bomb explosion in cali, Colombia on August 21st. Photograph: Iusef Samir Rojas/AFP

At least 18 people died and more than 40 were injured on Thursday after two attacks in Colombia attributed to different dissident factions of the former Farc guerrilla group, authorities reported.

In Cali, the country’s third most populated city, a cargo vehicle with explosives detonated near a Colombian Aerospace Force base, in an incident that left six people dead, according to the mayor’s office.

Hours earlier, a National Police Black Hawk UH-60 helicopter participating in a coca leaf crop eradication operation was shot down in the municipality of Amalfi, in the department of Antioquia, leaving 12 officers dead.

Colombian president Gustavo Petro blamed the attacks on dissident factions of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group that rejected a 2016 peace agreement to end a prolonged internal conflict that has left more than 450,000 dead. – Reuters

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