Add StudioX as a preferred source on GoogleAt least four people were killed on Sunday when a lorry loaded with explosives detonated in Tolima province, in western Colombia, according to a local official. The information comes from BBC News Latin America.
Tolima governor Adriana Magali Matiz said on X that a two-month-old baby girl was among the dead. The lorry exploded near a military base in the town of Planadas. The blast damaged a nearby hospital and several other buildings.
No one has claimed responsibility
It is not yet clear who was behind the bombing. The BBC reports, however, that armed criminal groups have recently intensified attacks on the security forces. This appears to be retaliation for an offensive ordered against them by Colombia’s new right-wing president, Abelardo de la Espriella.
Governor Matiz condemned the attack in strong terms. She called it “a vile and criminal act that we reject with absolute forcefulness”. She also wrote that attacking civilians and endangering soldiers and Tolima families was “crossing a line” that authorities would not tolerate.
President de la Espriella had not yet commented on the Planadas attack. He did strongly condemn an earlier incident on Saturday in southern Huila province. A police officer was killed and six others were injured when a motorcycle rigged with explosives was detonated.
A hardline shift on armed groups
De la Espriella was sworn into office in August after campaigning on a tough-on-crime platform. Within a month, he had ended peace talks with some of Colombia’s illegal armed groups. Those negotiations had been started under his left-wing predecessor, Gustavo Petro.
At the time, the president wrote on social media that criminals would have no political status, no leniency and no impunity under his government.
Petro had begun his term advocating a “total peace strategy”. He argued that only dialogue could end the violence carried out by Colombia’s many armed groups. After repeated breaches of the terms of the negotiations, he put some of the talks on hold.
De la Espriella has gone further. He has expanded his crackdown to all of the country’s illegal groups, including bombing their camps.
Attacks growing in scale and method
The armed groups have responded with more attacks on the security forces. In some cases they have used drones, rather than cars or motorcycles, to carry the explosives.
In one such attack, on 23 October, a marine infantryman was killed and four others were injured aboard a Navy boat in Cauca province.
Earlier BBC coverage of the new government noted that the president had loosened gun control rules and approved the extradition of rebel leaders to the United States.
Source: BBC News Latin America
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