Tensions soar in Colombia as FARC splinter group launches deadly bomb attack

At least five Colombian soldiers were killed, and three others were seriously wounded in a bomb attack carried out by dissident FARC guerrillas in the volatile Micay Canyon region of southwestern Colombia.

According to an official statement posted on the army’s X (formerly Twitter) account, a military convoy was travelling through the region when their vehicles were targeted with an explosive device buried in a road embankment, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

The attack was "apparently perpetrated by members of the dissident organized armed group, the Carlos Patiño structure, and has so far left two non-commissioned officers and three professional soldiers dead," the statement said.

The soldiers were on a mission to reinstall a bridge in the rural town of La Hacienda, which had been destroyed by militants of the Carlos Patiño group earlier in March, the army added.

Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez strongly condemned the attack, calling it a "vile terrorist act."

"I regret, condemn, and reject the vile terrorist attack by the Carlos Patiño structure... against the army convoy," Sanchez wrote on X.

The Carlos Patiño structure is affiliated with the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), a faction of FARC dissidents who refused to sign the 2016 peace agreement with the Colombian government.

The attack comes just days after 28 police officers and a soldier, who were taken hostage in the same region, were released on March 8. Their abduction had escalated tensions in the already restive area.

The 29 men had been detained on March 6 following a day of violent clashes between security forces and residents. The unrest was triggered by a government military operation aimed at curbing drug-related violence in Micay Canyon, which is one of Colombia’s most critical cocaine-producing zones.

According to the government, the officers were held captive by the EMC guerrilla group, which has a strong presence in the region. The kidnappings posed a significant challenge for President Gustavo Petro’s administration, which is grappling with the worst outbreak of violence in a decade across multiple regions of the country.

Since October, Bogotá has been engaged in efforts to regain control of key territories in Cauca Department, a region long dominated by armed groups involved in drug trafficking.

President Petro’s government has proposed an ambitious crop substitution program to shift the economy away from coca cultivation, the raw material for cocaine production. However, local communities have fiercely opposed the initiative, accusing the government of implementing a policy of "forced eradication" that threatens their livelihoods.

By Tamilla Hasanova