Printed On 26 Apr 2026
A freeway bomb assault in southwestern Colombia has killed 19 folks and injured not less than 38, the newest spate of violence forward of subsequent month’s presidential election.
Buses and vans have been left mangled within the blast Saturday on the Pan-American Freeway, within the restive southwestern Cauca division.
A number of automobiles have been flipped over by the power of the explosion and a big crater was blown out of the roadway.
The division’s governor on Saturday night offered a demise toll of 14, with greater than 38 injured, however the Nationwide Institute of Authorized Medication and Forensic Sciences stated Sunday morning it had begun the examination of 19 our bodies.
Navy chief Hugo Lopez instructed a information convention on Saturday that the bomb had exploded after assailants stopped site visitors by blocking the highway with a bus and one other car.
The assault comes simply over one month forward of nationwide elections, wherein voters will decide a successor to President Gustavo Petro.
Petro blamed the bombing on Ivan Mordisco, the South American nation’s most-wanted felony, whom the president has in comparison with late cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar.
The violence got here after a bomb assault on Friday on a army base in Cali, Colombia’s third-largest metropolis, injured two folks and set off a string of assaults within the Valle del Cauca and Cauca departments.
In keeping with Lopez, 26 assaults have been recorded within the two departments over the previous two days.
Authorities have boosted army and police presence within the areas, Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez stated.
Safety is likely one of the central problems with the Could 31 presidential election. Political violence was introduced into sharp focus final June, when younger conservative presidential frontrunner Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot in broad daylight whereas campaigning within the capital Bogota and later died from his wounds.
Leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda, an architect of Petro’s controversial coverage of negotiating with armed teams, is forward in polls.
He’s trailed by right-wing candidates Abelardo de la Espriella and Paloma Valencia, each of whom have pledged to take a tough line towards insurgent teams.
All three have reported receiving demise threats and are campaigning underneath heavy safety.
