Colombia (BN24) – At least 13 people, including police officers, were killed in Colombia on Thursday after a coordinated car bomb explosion and a helicopter attack that authorities say were carried out by armed groups linked to dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
President Gustavo Petro confirmed that eight police officers were killed when their helicopter was struck while flying over coca-growing fields in the northern department of Antioquia. The aircraft had been transporting personnel for a coca eradication mission when it was hit by a drone strike, causing a fire and forcing it down, according to Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez. Eight others were injured in the attack.
In a separate incident in the city of Cali, a car bomb detonated near a military aviation school, killing five people and injuring more than 30 others. The Colombian Aerospace Force said the blast involved a vehicle packed with explosives, though further details were not immediately released.
Petro initially suggested the helicopter strike was the work of the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s most powerful drug cartel, claiming the attack was retaliation for a cocaine seizure that crippled the group’s operations. Later statements linked responsibility to FARC dissidents, who refused to disarm after the 2016 peace deal with the government. Both factions are known to be active in Antioquia, where coca cultivation is expanding.
Coca farming continues to drive Colombia’s drug conflict, with the United Nations reporting a record 253,000 hectares under cultivation in 2023. The surge has fueled violence between rival armed groups and security forces as the Petro administration struggles to contain the resurgence of narco-terrorism in rural regions.
