At least seven dead and 17 injured in an attack on the Pan-American Highway in Colombia

Cajibío.- At least seven people died this Saturday and 17 more were injured in a terrorist attack that destroyed a section of the Pan-American Highway and several vehicles traveling on that road in the department of Cauca, in southwestern Colombia, authorities reported.

The attack was carried out in an area called El Túnel, in the municipality of Cajibío, where alleged guerrillas launched a cylinder loaded with explosives that fell on a bus traveling through that sector. The shockwave caused by the explosion also destroyed other vehicles and left a huge crater in the road, which interrupted traffic in that area. “An explosive device was activated on the Pan-American highway, in the El Túnel sector, Cajibío, in an indiscriminate attack against the civilian population which, preliminarily, leaves 7 civilians dead and more than 17 seriously injured,” stated the governor of Cauca, Octavio Guzmán, on his X account.

Mourning in Cajibío, Cauca

The governor described what happened as “a tragedy that tears us apart as a department and deeply mourns our families.” «We strongly reject and with deep concern the terrorist acts that occurred in the tunnel sector, in the municipality of Cajibío, Cauca, where violence once again strikes the civilian population and alters the tranquility of our communities», stated the director of the Land Restitution Unit (URT), Giovani Yule, who is a native of that region.

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Cajibío is a municipality located 35 kilometers from Popayán, capital of Cauca, on the Pan-American Highway, which connects with Cali, capital of the neighboring department of Valle del Cauca. “The scenes from Cajibío, Cauca, are terrible. All solidarity with the citizens. We demand protection from the State for the southwest. No more total peace,” stated presidential candidate Paloma Valencia, from the right-wing opposition party Centro Democrático and also a native of Cauca, on X.

Terrorist Offensive in the Southwest

The attack was carried out just as the Minister of Defense, Pedro Sánchez Suárez, was leading a security council in Cali to assess the situation in Valle del Cauca following the two attacks carried out on Friday in that department with bomb cylinders, like those used today on the Pan-American Highway.

The first attack occurred in Cali against the Pichincha Battalion, a military unit that also houses the headquarters of the Third Army Brigade, and at night cylinders were launched against the Agustín Codazzi Engineers Battalion, in Palmira, in both cases without causing victims. The Army attributed both attacks to the Jaime Martínez column, which is part of the Central General Staff (EMC), the main dissident group of the FARC, led by alias Iván Mordisco, the most wanted man in Colombia. This Saturday, the Santana radar, located in the town of El Tambo (Cauca), used to control air traffic in that region of the country, was also attacked by an armed group, as reported by the Civil Aeronautics (Aerocivil).