CALI: Colombian authorities said five people were killed and dozens more injured when a truck bomb tore through a busy street in the city of Cali on Thursday (Aug 21), deepening the country’s most serious security crisis in decades.
Police said the explosion targeted a military aviation school in the city’s north – a fresh challenge to Colombia’s fragile peace process ahead of 2026 elections.
“There was a thunderous sound of something exploding near the air base,” 65-year-old eyewitness Hector Fabio Bolanos told AFP.
“There were so many injured people,” he said. “Many houses were damaged in front of the base”.
Cali mayor Alejandro Eder said preliminary reports were that at least five people were killed and 36 people were injured.
Fearing further explosions, he announced a temporary ban on large trucks entering the city and a US$10,000 reward for information.
Several buildings and a local school were evacuated.
Cali is Colombia’s third-largest city, home to more than two million people, famed for its vibrant salsa-infused nightlife and cartel-tainted past.
Eyewitness Alexis Atizabal, 40, said civilians appeared to be among the victims.
“There were fatalities among people passing by on the avenue,” he said.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blast, but Eder blamed it on “narcoterrorists.”
Many of Colombia’s armed groups – once based on leftist or right-wing ideologies – are now de facto drug cartels, funding themselves through the lucrative cocaine trade.
In June, leftist guerrillas claimed responsibility for a wave of 24 coordinated bomb and gun attacks near Cali that killed seven people.
The group, the Central General Staff (EMC), rejected a 2016 peace deal and has upped operations ahead of next year’s vote.
As yet, the group has not claimed responsibility for Thursday’s blast.
