At least 13 people were killed and 17 were wounded in an explosives attack on Colombia’s Pan-American Highway in the southwestern department of Cauca on Saturday, according to a police source and local officials. Authorities blamed dissident factions of the former FARC guerrilla movement, and regional leaders urged the national government to respond more forcefully.
The attack struck the Pan-American Highway in the El Túnel area of Cajibío, a municipality about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Popayán, the capital of Colombia’s Cauca department, authorities said.
A police source told Reuters that at least 13 people were killed and 17 wounded in the blast, which authorities attributed to dissident groups that split from the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and rejected the 2016 peace accord.
Cauca Governor Octavio Guzmán said on X that the blast was one of several criminal incidents reported in the department on Saturday and called for national intervention.
“Cauca cannot continue to face this barbarity alone. We are facing a terrorist escalation that demands immediate responses. We demand forceful, sustained and effective action from the national government in the face of the grave public order crisis we are experiencing.”
Independent reporting has described differing casualty figures in initial accounts of the incident. The Associated Press, citing Colombia’s army chief and other officials, reported 13 dead and at least 38 injured, while some local and international outlets published preliminary counts that were lower or higher. Authorities have not consistently provided a single consolidated toll in early public statements.
