- Eye witnesses say civilians among the dead, many damaged houses.
- The explosion causes panic in the busy Cali street near the air base.
- The regional governor says that terrorism will not defeat us.
Five people died and dozens were injured when a vehicle bomb attacked the military base in a busy street in the Colombian city of Cali on Thursday, local authorities said.
Police said the bomb had been addressed to the Marco Fidel Suárez Military Aviation School.
“There was a thunderous sound of something that exploded near the air base,” said 65 -year -old Héctor Fabio Bolans Héctor Fabio Bolans AFP.
“There were so many people injured,” he said. “Many houses were damaged in front of the base.”
Several buildings and a school were evacuated.
The mayor of Cali, Alejandro Eder, said the preliminary reports indicated that at least five people died and 36 people were injured.
He announced the prohibition of large trucks that enter the city, fearing more explosions.
The ocular witness Alexis Atizabal, 40, indicated that civilians can be among the dead.
“There were deaths among the people who passed on Avenida,” he said.
It was not clear who was responsible, but the regional governor Dilian Francisca Toro described him as a “terrorist attack.”
“Terrorism will not defeat us,” he said.
In June, the leftist warriors attributed the responsibility of a wave of bombs and attacks with firearms in Cali and its surroundings that killed seven people.
The group, the Central General Staff (EMC), rejected a 2016 peace agreement and has increased operations before the elections in 2026.
