At least 18 killed in two attacks in Colombia, authorities suspect FARC offshoot groups

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Soldiers guard a gate after several inmates were killed in fights between gangs, in Guayaquil, Ecuador November 2, 2022. REUTERS/Santiago Arcos

BOGOTA  -  At least 18 people died and more than forty were injured on Thursday after two attacks in Colombia attributed to different dissident factions of the former FARC guerrilla group, authorities reported.

In Cali, the country's third most populated city, a cargo vehicle with explosives detonated near a Colombian Aerospace Force base, in an incident that left six people dead and 71 injuries, according to the mayor's office.

Hours earlier, a National Police Black Hawk UH-60 helicopter participating in a coca leaf crop eradication operation was shot down in the municipality of Amalfi, in the department of Antioquia, leaving 12 officers dead.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro blamed the attacks on dissident factions of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group that rejected a 2016 peace agreement to end a prolonged internal conflict that has left more than 450,000 dead.

 (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Editing by Julia Symmes Cobb // REUTERS)