Agency Report

At least 11 Colombian police officers were wounded in an attack against their truck using explosives in the southwestern city of Cali, President Ivan Duque said Saturday.

The truck was badly damaged in the blast. No civilians were reported injured.

“We condemn the cowardly terrorist attack against members of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad,” in the city’s Puerto Rellena area, Duque said on Twitter.

“We sympathize with the 11 uniformed officers wounded in the attack, 3 of them seriously,” added the conservative president, who did not give details about the alleged perpetrator.

With 2.2 million inhabitants, Cali is the third-largest city in Colombia and one of the most violent in Latin America.

It is in one of the biggest coca cultivation areas in Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producer.

Colombia is officially at peace after signing a pact with the FARC guerrilla group in 2016 to end more than a half-century of armed conflict.

But it has seen a flare-up of violence in recent months due to fighting over territory and resources by dissident guerrillas, the ELN rebel group, paramilitary forces and drug cartels.

AFP