At least 26 such incidents have taken place in the last two days, amid a wave of violence linked to drug-trafficking
The death toll from an explosives attack on a highway in southwestern Colombia rose to 19 on Sunday, authorities said, as the government blamed a dissident faction of the former FARC guerrilla group for the bombing.
The blast on the Pan-American Highway in the Cajibio municipality also injured 38 people, including five minors, and destroyed dozens of vehicles on the road linking Popayan and Cali.
Octavio Guzman, the governor of the region of Cauca, said on social media that the device was set off while the bus was travelling along the Panamerican Highway in the municipality of Cajibio.
Five children were among the injured, Cauca Health Secretary Carolina Camargo told Noticias Caracol, a television news programme.
General Hugo Lopez, commander of Colombia’s Armed Forces, told a news conference that it was a “terrorist act” and blamed the network of a man known as “Ivan Mordisco” – one of Colombia’s most wanted figures – and the Jaime Martinez faction. Both are dissidents of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that operate in the region.
Neither Ivan Mordisco nor the Jaime Martinez faction abide by the peace agreement signed with the state in 2016.