At least 20 killed in Colombia highway blast

News|DrugsAt least 20 killed in Colombia highway blastColombia’s President Gustavo Petro has blamed a ‘narco-terrorist group’ led by a former FARC fighter for the attack.ListenListen (2 mins)SaveClick here to share on social mediashare-nodesSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoRelatives of victims pay respects at the site of a deadly attack on the Pan-American Highway in Cajibio, Colombia, on Sunday [Santiago Saldarriaga/AP Photo]By Al Jazeera Staff, Agence France Presse and The Associated PressPublished On 28 Apr 202628 Apr 2026The death toll from a deadly highway bombing in southwestern Colombia has risen to at least 20, the governor of the Cauca region has said.Governor Octavio Guzman said on Monday that the death toll included 15 women and five men.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Explosion in southwest Colombia kills at least 14, state governor sayslist 2 of 4Video: Colombia blames dissident FARC rebel for deadly bus bomblist 3 of 4New footage shows moment of deadly bus bombing in Colombialist 4 of 4Photos: Bomb attack on Colombia highway kills 19 ahead of electionend of listThere were also 36 people injured, including three who remained in intensive care as of Monday and “five minors who are out of danger”, Guzman said in an update shared on social media.Some media reports put the death toll from the lethal explosion, near a tunnel on the Pan-American Highway, at 21 as of late on Monday.A dozen of the victims were from a village near the town of Cajibio, where hundreds of mourners held a vigil on Monday.The mourners were dressed in white and waved white sheets or balloons as a sign of peace.“Please, no more death, no more violence,” Joao Valencia, 42, a relative of a woman killed in the attack, told the AFP news agency, holding up her picture.“These kinds of women should die of old age, not have their lives taken from them in such a tragic way,” he added.The bombing was one of the deadliest attacks in Colombia since the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) blew up a Bogota nightclub in 2003, killing 36 people. Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said a “narco-terrorist group” was responsible for the attack, specifically naming a group led by Nestor Vera, commonly known as Ivan Mordisco, one of Colombia’s most wanted men.Mordisco is a dissident former member of FARC, which signed a landmark peace agreement with the government in 2016. Advertisement The attack comes just more than a month before national elections, in which voters will pick a successor to President Gustavo Petro.Security is one of the central issues of the May 31 presidential election, with a suspect recently arrested in the assassination of young conservative presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay last June.

This excerpt is published under fair use for community discussion. Read the full article at Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera.