Death Toll Rises to 7 After a Truck Bomb Explodes in Colombia
In addition, the attack in Cali left more than 70 people injured.
The death toll from the truck bomb attack near an air base in the southwestern Colombian city of Cali rose to seven on Friday, authorities confirmed, adding that the attack also left more than 70 injured. “I regret to report that there is another fatality. This brings the total to seven deaths from this attack in Cali,” Cali Mayor Alejandro Éder told reporters. The truck bomb exploded Thursday afternoon at a spot on Cali’s Carrera Octava, a busy avenue lined with businesses where the Marco Fidel Suárez Military Aviation School is located, where members of the Air Force are trained. However, all the fatalities were civilians, including a minor, according to the Mayor’s Office. Another truck, also loaded with bomb cylinders, failed to detonate and ended up in the middle of the avenue.
“I ask Colombia to keep the victims of this terrorist attack in their prayers and Colombia as well. Don’t think this is over there (far away) in Cali; this is in the country. Security is deteriorating in the country,” Éder said. The mayor added: “Therefore, with one voice, we Colombians united must demand an end and confront this terrorism, and above all, demand support for the public forces so they can restore peace in Colombia.” For his part, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, pictured below, confirmed the arrest of two suspects in the attack.
“It was carried out by just two people, unarmed, but loaded with explosives, who ran away as soon as one of those trucks was activated. The population itself captured (the suspects) in the neighboring neighborhood,” the president added after leading a security council meeting in Cali that ended at the stroke of midnight. In addition to the attack in Cali, Colombia was rocked yesterday by another attack in a rural area of Amalfi, in the northwestern department of Antioquia, where 13 anti-narcotics police officers were killed and four injured when the helicopter they were traveling in was hit by another helicopter, eradicating illicit crops.
