At least 13 people were killed and 17 wounded in an explosives attack in western Colombia on Saturday, a police source told Reuters, in violence authorities have blamed on dissidents of the FARC guerrilla group.<\/p>\n
The attack took place on the Pan-American Highway in the El Tunel area of Cajibio municipality, about 35 km (22 miles) from Popayan, the capital of Cauca province, according to authorities.<\/p>\n
Cauca Governor Octavio Guzman said on X the attack was one of several criminal actions reported in the province on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cCauca cannot continue to face this barbarity alone. We are facing a terrorist escalation that demands immediate responses. We demand forceful, sustained and effective action from the national government in the face of the grave public order crisis we are experiencing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Presidential candidate Paloma Valencia, a member of the opposition right-wing Democratic Center party who is from Cauca, called the attack \u201cterrorism\u201d carried out by the dissident FARC faction, which rejected a 2016 peace deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Gustavo Petro\u2019s government cannot continue minimizing the violence or dismantling the state,\u201d she said. \u201cWe demand immediate action, full backing for our Armed Forces and police, and concrete results.\u201d<\/p>\n
Petro, a former rebel himself whose term as president is nearing an end, has pursued a \u201ctotal peace\u201d policy with guerrillas through negotiations and intermittent ceasefires.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta and Diego Ore; Editing by Alistair Bell, Rod Nickel)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n