Colombia bomb attacks: Seven dead in explosions targeting Cali police

The explosions were mostly directed at police stations and come days after an assassination attempt on a potential presidential contender

Stephen Gibbs, Panama City
Wednesday June 11 2025, 2.45am BST, The Times

Forensic technicians at the site of a motorcycle explosion in front of a police station in the Melendez neighbourhood of Cali
REUTERS


A series of bomb attacks in southwestern Colombia has left at least seven people dead and more than 50 injured.

The explosions, mostly directed at police stations, came just days after an assassination attempt on Miguel Uribe, a conservative senator and potential presidential contender.

Tuesday’s attacks were believed to have been directed by a rebel guerrilla group known as Estado Mayor Central, which splintered from the main Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in 2016. Two police officers are amongst those killed.

A soldier by the motorcycle wreckage in Cali
SANTIAGO SALDARRIAGA/AP

 

Most of the bombs were detonated in Cali, the country’s third-largest city. Several towns in the neighbouring Valle del Cauca region were also targeted.

Colombia’s security ministry described the violence as “a desperate reaction by illegal armed groups against the massive operations … which have devastated their illicit structures and economies”.

Others have blamed the government of President Petro for being too lax on criminal groups. Petro, a former guerrilla fighter himself, took office in 2022 pledging to deliver “total peace” by reaching out to all the parties that had rejected the country’s 2016 peace process.

The strategy involved negotiating with at least nine rebel groups and criminal organisations at once, and has demonstrably failed in its key objective.

Miguel Uribe, a conservative senator, is still in a critical condition after an assassination attempt on Saturday
RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, said: “Today’s wave of attacks in Cauca and Valle del Cauca is a consequence of the Petro administration’s failed ‘total peace’ policy. The absence of effective security and justice measures has allowed armed groups to expand their presence and increase their ability to cause harm, even in major cities.”

The violence in Cali is a painful reminder for its population of 2.2 million people of the 1980s and 1990s, when the city — then and now a notorious drug-trafficking hub — was one of the most violent urban centres in the world.

President Petro of Colombia blamed an international crime ring for the attack on Uribe, without providing evidence
FLORENCE LO/REUTERS

“They want us to go back to 1989, we won’t allow it!” Alejandro Eder, the city’s mayor, said.

In recent years Cali has tried to rebrand itself as a safe tourist destination and the salsa capital of Latin America. Last August, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex rounded off their quasi-royal tour of Colombia in the city, attending its popular annual music festival. In October, it hosted thousands of international delegates for a UN-sponsored conference on biodiversity.

Videos posted to social media on Tuesday showed smoke pouring from exploded vehicles across the city.

Meanwhile in the capital, Bogota, Uribe remains in a critical condition after he was shot in the head at close range during a campaign speech on Saturday. An unnamed 15-year-old youth has been charged with his attempted murder. If convicted, he faces a maximum of eight years in a rehabilitation centre. He cannot be imprisoned as he is a minor.

Petro has blamed an international crime ring for the attack on Uribe, without providing any evidence. He has also said he wants US authorities to investigate the incident, alleging that the pistol used in the shooting was purchased in Arizona.


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