Four killed in wave of bomb, gun attacks across southwest Colombia
The attacks hit Cali – the country's third-largest city – and the nearby towns of Corinto, El Bordo, and Jamundi, targeting police stations and other municipal buildings with car and motorcycle bombs, rifle fire and a suspected drone, the head of police Carlos Fernando Triana told local radio station La FM on Tuesday.
The bombings came just days after the attempted assassination of presidential hopeful Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay at a campaign rally in the capital Bogota, allegedly by a 15-year-old hitman, an attack that rattled a nation with a dark past of assassinations.
In Corinto, an AFP journalist witnessed the tangled wreckage of a car that had exploded next to a scorched and badly damaged municipal building.
'There are two police officers dead, and a number of members of the public are also dead,' said Triana.
Police later said at least two civilians were among those killed, and 12 others were injured.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks, but military and police spokespeople blamed the strikes on the FARC-EMC, which is known to operate in the area. The group is led by former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who broke away from the group after it signed a peace deal with the government in 2016.
Triana suggested the attacks may be linked to the third anniversary of the killing of FARC dissident leader Leider Johani Noscue, better known as 'Mayimbu'.
The bombings just three days after Uribe's attempted assassination have set Colombia further on edge.
Uribe, a member of the opposition conservative Democratic Centre party, underwent successful initial surgery on Sunday. The hospital treating him said on Tuesday that he remained stable but in critical condition.
'We continue to take the necessary actions to mitigate the impact of the injuries,' the Santa Fe Foundation hospital added in a statement.
Thousands have taken to the streets in major cities to light candles, pray and voice their anger at the assassination attempt. Authorities say they are investigating who was behind the attack on Uribe. Leftist President Gustavo Petro, who has vowed to bring peace to the country, said on Sunday that he had ordered additional security for opposition leaders in response to more threats.
Many Colombians are fearful of a return to the bloody violence of the 1980s and 1990s, when cartel attacks and political assassinations were frequent, sowing terror across the nation.
Colombia's government has struggled to contain violence in urban and rural areas as several rebel groups try to take over territory abandoned by the FARC after its peace deal with the government.
Peace talks between the FARC-EMC faction and the government broke down last year after a series of attacks on Indigenous communities.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
6 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
London police arrest hundreds at Gaza protest supporting Palestine Action
London police arrest hundreds at Gaza protest supporting Palestine Action NewsFeed Police in London carried out the most arrests in a single day for a decade, detaining close to 500 peaceful pro-Palestinian protesters for 'terrorism'. Demonstrators condemned Israel's genocide in Gaza and expressed support for the banned activist group Palestine Action. Many say the crackdown violates free speech and targets peaceful dissent. Video Duration 01 minutes 49 seconds 01:49 Video Duration 00 minutes 34 seconds 00:34 Video Duration 01 minutes 30 seconds 01:30 Video Duration 01 minutes 16 seconds 01:16 Video Duration 01 minutes 27 seconds 01:27 Video Duration 02 minutes 59 seconds 02:59 Video Duration 00 minutes 57 seconds 00:57
Al Jazeera
12 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,263
Here is how things stand on Sunday, August 10: Fighting Russian forces launched a drone attack on a bus in Ukraine's Kherson region, killing at least two people and wounding 16 others, according to Ukrainian officials. Another drone hit the bus as the police were responding to the attack, injuring three officers, the police added. Russian forces also launched 36 other attacks on settlements across the Kherson region through Friday and Saturday, killing at least one more person and injuring three, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin. Russian attacks on Ukraine's Zaporizhia region killed two people travelling in a car in the Bilenkivska community on Saturday morning, and a 61-year-old woman who was in her home in the Vasylivka district, a local official reported. In Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian attack killed a 56-year-old woman and wounded a 62-year-old man in the city of Nikopol, while in the Donetsk region, other Russian attacks killed four people and wounded nine, according to officials. A Ukrainian drone attack on a house in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine killed one person, Russia's state-run TASS news agency reported, while another assault on a car in the Borisovsky district of Russia's Belgorod region killed a husband and wife. Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that its forces had taken control of another Ukrainian village in the Donetsk region. The TASS news agency identified the village as Yablunivka. Russia's Defence Ministry also said that Moscow's forces shot down 224 Ukrainian drones on Friday night into Saturday. Russian forces launched a drone attack on a bus in Ukraine's Kherson region, killing at least two people and wounding 16 others, according to Ukrainian officials. Another drone hit the bus as the police were responding to the attack, injuring three officers, the police added. Russian forces also launched 36 other attacks on settlements across the Kherson region through Friday and Saturday, killing at least one more person and injuring three, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin. Russian attacks on Ukraine's Zaporizhia region killed two people travelling in a car in the Bilenkivska community on Saturday morning, and a 61-year-old woman who was in her home in the Vasylivka district, a local official reported. In Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian attack killed a 56-year-old woman and wounded a 62-year-old man in the city of Nikopol, while in the Donetsk region, other Russian attacks killed four people and wounded nine, according to officials. A Ukrainian drone attack on a house in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine killed one person, Russia's state-run TASS news agency reported, while another assault on a car in the Borisovsky district of Russia's Belgorod region killed a husband and wife. Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that its forces had taken control of another Ukrainian village in the Donetsk region. The TASS news agency identified the village as Yablunivka. Russia's Defence Ministry also said that Moscow's forces shot down 224 Ukrainian drones on Friday night into Saturday. Politics and Diplomacy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected concessions of land in any peace deal with Russia as United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepare to meet in Alaska on August 15. Trump has said that his meeting with Putin could see 'some swapping of territories' between Russia and Ukraine, 'to the betterment of both'. Zelenskyy said that 'Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier', and that 'decisions without Ukraine' would not bring peace. The leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Finland, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, issued a joint statement welcoming Trump's efforts, while stressing the need to maintain support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia. The leaders said 'they remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force'. The US's NBC News broadcaster cited an unnamed US official as saying that the Trump administration was considering inviting Zelenskyy to join the US and Russian presidents at their Alaska meeting. The Wall Street Journal also reported that European officials who met US Vice President JD Vance in the UK on Saturday had presented a counterproposal for peace, which included demands that a ceasefire must take place before any other steps are taken. The proposal also said that any territory exchanges must be reciprocal, with firm security guarantees. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke on Saturday and pledged to find a 'just and lasting peace' in Ukraine, while welcoming Trump's efforts to end the fighting, a Downing Street spokesperson said. The two leaders also pledged 'their unwavering support to President Zelenskyy', the spokesperson said.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Ukraine's conscription crisis: Alleged abuse leads to protests, emigration
Names marked with an asterisk* have been changed to protect identities. Kyiv, Ukraine – Artem* is determined to never join Ukraine's armed forces. 'If I ever fight, I won't fight for Ukraine,' the 29-year-old from the westernmost Zakarpattia region told Al Jazeera. A 'conscription patrol' of three police and two military officers rounded him up in late June as he was leaving the Sunday mass at a cathedral in Uzhhorod, the regional capital. Artem had paperwork proving that he was the only caretaker of his disabled, ailing 66-year-old mother and therefore could not be drafted. But the patrol detained and brought him to a conscription office, where two officers took Artem to a separate room. He claimed they beat him and tried to force him to 'volunteer' for military service. When he refused, he said they tied and blindfolded him and four more reluctant detainees and took them to a forest outside Uzhhorod. One of the officers ordered them at gunpoint to run to what turned out to be a fence on the Slovakian border, Artem claimed. Another officer videotaped the men's 'attempt to illegally cross the border', which is punishable by up to four years in jail, and said they could 'negotiate their release fee', Artem claimed. He said that his family paid $2,000 for his release and another $15,000 for a fake permit to leave Ukraine as men of fighting age, 25 to 60, are not allowed to travel abroad. Artem, who spoke via a messaging app from an Eastern European nation, asked to withhold his real name, personal details and the location of the conscription office he claims to have been beaten in. A deepening crisis Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify all of the details of Artem's story, but some of his allegations corroborate with other cases of conscription-related coercion and corruption in Ukraine amid a dire shortage of front-line troops in the fight against Russia. Between January and June, the Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman's office received more than 2,000 complaints about the use of force by conscription patrols that consist of military and police officers. In one case, patrol officers hit a bicyclist in the central Rivne region with their car in January after he refused to pull over. They beat and tear-gassed him to deliver him to the conscription office and 'illegally mobilise', investigators said. Ultimately, the patrolling officers volunteered to go to the front line to avoid assault charges, they said. On August 1, police in the central city of Vinnytsia used tear gas to disperse a crowd that tried to storm a conscription office and release some 100 men that they claimed had been detained illegally. Meanwhile, a privileged few abuse their position to dodge the draft. In October 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the prosecutor general after several public prosecutors obtained fake disability papers that also entitled them to sizeable 'pensions'. In January, Oleh Druz – the chief psychiatrist for Ukraine's armed forces, who could declare any conscript unfit for service – was arrested. He now faces up to 10 years in jail for 'illegal enrichment'. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, Druz reportedly bought several luxurious apartments, two plots of land and several BMW cars – and kept $152,000 and 34,000 euros ($40,000) in cash at home. For more than two years, conscription patrols have been combing public places, subway stations, nightclubs and even crashing wedding parties in search of men of fighting age – 25 to 60, more than a dozen witnesses from all over Ukraine told Al Jazeera. They tour regions outside their official jurisdiction. 'Fake patrols' of burly uniformed men then blackmail those they catch. A release fee is $400 or more, but those who refuse to pay up are handed over to real conscription offices, the witnesses say. Several conscription officers are ex-servicemen who often suffer from PTSD, despise draft dodgers and have no qualms about humiliating, abusing and beating them, they say. Hundreds of thousands of men are understood to be in hiding, causing a dire shortage in the workforce. Across the country, there are far fewer male construction workers, farmhands, cooks and taxi drivers. Men whose military papers are in order prefer to move around with a witness who can, if needed, videotape an encounter with a conscription patrol. 'I drive around with my mom because there are too many checkpoints anywhere I go,' Ferentz, an ethnic Hungarian taxi driver in Uzhhorod, told Al Jazeera as his mother smiled from the front seat of his old Skoda. Meanwhile, a societal division is growing. Current or former Ukrainian servicemen and their families are increasingly indignant about how draft dodgers justify their reluctance to enlist. 'I broke up with many female friends who defend their husbands' or boyfriends' right not to fight,' Hanna Kovaleva, whose husband Albert volunteered in 2022, told Al Jazeera. 'This [mindset] is disgusting – 'let someone else die while I'm hiding behind my wife's skirt.'' Preemptive emigration Before he turns 17, Bogdan* is leaving Ukraine – but not in search of better living conditions. He lives in central Kyiv in a three-bedroom apartment with his parents, goes to a private school and spends weekends in a spacious country house. But his parents do not want him to be conscripted. Even though it could only happen only when Bogdan turns 25, they say they are not taking ay risks. 'With this chaos on the front line, you don't just want your kid to die because of his officer's mistake,' his father Dmitry* told Al Jazeera. On September 1, Bogdan will start school in Prague, where his aunt lives. Crushed and heartbroken – he just started dating a classmate – he says he has no choice. 'I know I sound very unpatriotic, but I don't want to end up rotting in a ditch,' he told Al Jazeera. In January, United States President Donald Trump's administration urged Kyiv to lower the draft age from 25 to 18 – reiterating the previous administration's request. As the average age of a Ukrainian serviceman has reached 45 from 42 three years ago, more and more Ukrainians with military backgrounds agree with the request. Alternatively, men aged 18 and older could serve in a 'labour army' that manufactures drones and other war-related items, according to Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, ex-deputy head of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He said that mobilisation should involve all men of fighting age without exceptions – while Ukraine's economy should be 'reformatted' to primarily serve the army's needs. 'If unpopular strategic decisions at home are not implemented, the situation only gets worse. No foreigners will fight for us,' Romanenko told Al Jazeera.
