At least six dead and more than 60 injured in attack on military base in Cali

At least six people were killed and more than 60 injured Thursday in a terrorist attack in Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city. Unknown individuals used two cylinder bombs to target the Marco Fidel Suárez military air base. The devices exploded on the busy Carrera Octava street, in the middle of a residential area. “Cali is once again the victim of a narco-terrorist attack,” said the city’s mayor, Alejandro Eder, minutes after the bombing. The mayor ordered the militarization of the city, and President Gustavo Petro traveled to Cali address the crisis. The attack came just hours after the 36th Front of the Central General Staff (EMC) — a splinter group of disaffected FARC leaders and soldiers — attacked a police helicopter in the department of Antioquia, in the northwest of the country, killing at least 12 police officers and injuring others.

By nightfall, no organized crime group had claimed responsibility for the attack in Cali, but the president has pointed to the Carlos Patiño Front, which operates mainly in the department of Cauca and belongs to the EMC dissidents of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla organization, commanded by Néstor Gregorio Vera Fernández, alias “Iván Mordisco.”

“After the defeat of the Carlos Patiño Front and the loss of a large part of San Juan de Micay [a dissident stronghold], we have a terrorist reaction in Cali with two civilians dead,” Petro said via X, when the total number of victims had not yet been tallied. “Terrorism is the new expression of the factions that claim to be led by Iván Mordisco and that have submitted to the control of the drug trafficking junta [a criminal network Petro attributes with running the cocaine business in Latin America],” he added.

Eder, for his part, points to the Jaime Martínez column, which is part of the same dissident group, the EMC. The mayor has announced a reward of up to 400 million pesos (about $90,000) for information leading to the capture of those responsible, and the Valle del Cauca governor’s office offered the same amount. The Ministry of Defense then followed suit: “We are offering a reward of up to 200 million pesos for information that will enable us to anticipate any terrorist attack in the country,” wrote retired General Pedro Sánchez via his X account.

After the explosions, citizens detained a suspect who was trying to flee, and he was later handed over to the authorities. The 23-year-old native of the department of Cauca was identified as Walter Steban Yonda Ipia. “His alias is ‘Sebastián’ and he belongs to the EMC structures, led by alias ‘Marlon,’ who is subordinate to the drug trafficking junta,” President Petro said on Thursday night.

The detainee is believed to be one of the perpetrators of the attack and has become a key lead in finding the other suspects. A second man was captured, but no further details have been released. The authorities’ main hypothesis points to the dissidents led by Iván Mordisco; it is believed that it could have been carried out by the Jaime Martínez column, which has been targeted in Operation Perseo, carried out by the military at the end of 2024 to regain control of Cauca, the main stronghold of one of the EMC’s factions.

Numerous private homes and commercial premises, as well as dozens of vehicles, were damaged in the attack. One of the explosive devices used to target the military base fell in the front yard of a house, as the Air Force facility is surrounded by residential neighborhoods. Although the military headquarters is located in the La Base neighborhood, from which it takes its name, most of the places affected by the explosions belong to the neighboring Villa Colombia neighborhood in northern Cali. Another truck with cylinder bombs was reported in that area, leading police to cordon off the area with the initial aim of carrying out a controlled explosion. However, after evaluation by the bomb squad, it was determined that they were not primed and did not pose a danger.

The logistics of this attack also coincide with those used by the Carlos Patiño Front, which often targets military and police installations as part of its war against the state. In March of this year, for example, it launched eight simultaneous attacks in different parts of Cauca, using motorbike bombs, rifle fire, and drones carrying explosives.

On June 10, the group killed two people and wounded dozens of others in two explosions in the city. The capital of Valle del Cauca had already been on alert. The city hosted a major global climate conference, COP16, early last year, and since then there have been concerns about its security. Cali is located in southwestern Colombia and is close to Cauca, a department where armed conflict in ongoing amid the high presence of coca crops and the struggle for control of drug trafficking routes in the San Juan de Micay canyon. The federation of dissidents led by Iván Mordisco directly threatened the summit, prompting the state to deploy all its military and police forces.

The environmental summit took place without incident, but Thursday’s attack highlights the threats looming over the department’s capital. In another part of his message, President Petro asked the international community to “consider the drug trafficking junta as a terrorist organization, as well as its armed gangs in Cauca, Guaviare, Antioquia, and the Colombian Caribbean.” The president has pointed out that this junta, allegedly based in Dubai and which, according to Petro, includes drug traffickers of various nationalities, was also behind the attack on Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay. “The drug trafficking junta, heir to the paramilitary capital bloc, leads the dissidents of Iván Mordisco, the Second Marquetalia, and the Gulf Clan,” the president added.

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