Bogota:
A vehicle bomb explosion at a military base in the Colombian border city of Cucuta injured 36 men and women on Tuesday, the defense minister mentioned, casting blame for the attack on leftist rebels.
The explosion took spot at a base made use of by the 30th Army Brigade in the northeastern city close to the border with Venezuela.
“We reject and repudiate this vile and terrorist act which sought to attack the soldiers of Colombia,” Defence Minister Diego Molano told journalists. “Thirty-six people were injured. Three of them with a degree of gravity.”
One of the injured has had surgery, Molano mentioned, and 29 are hospitalized.
Two males drove a white Toyota truck into the base soon after passing themselves off as officials, he mentioned, adding there have been two explosions.
Despite a 2016 peace deal with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, Colombia’s military continues to battle National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas, crime gangs and former FARC members who reject the accord.
The ELN, FARC dissidents and crime gangs are all present in from time to time-restive Norte de Santander province, exactly where the 30th Brigade operates.
“The initial hypothesis is that the ELN are behind this demential and vile act,” Molano mentioned. “Also being investigated is the involvement of FARC dissidents.”
The injury toll could have been larger but most personnel have been in preventative isolation simply because of coronavirus, a higher-ranking official told Reuters earlier on Tuesday.
Photos and video circulating on social media showed a destroyed white automobile in flames.
President Ivan Duque mentioned on Twitter he would travel to Cucuta to meet with military leaders and regional authorities.
Social media videos showed what appeared to be U.S. military personnel on the base soon after the attack. Dozens of U.S. advisors are stationed in Colombia, but the U.S. military’s Southern Command did not right away respond to a request for comment.
The government blamed FARC dissidents for a vehicle bomb attack in March in Cauca province which injured more than 40 men and women.
A 2019 ELN vehicle bomb attack at Bogota’s police academy killed 22 men and women and ended nascent peace talks among the group and the government.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)