Following the deadly terrorist attack on the southwestern Colombian town of Tumaco on Wednesday, local media reported bomb attacks in two other towns, bringing the total of fatalities to 11.
Authorities in the southwestern Nariño department said Thursday morning that the number of fatal victims of the devastating attack on the downtown police station had been raised to nine, while some 60 people — mostly policemen — were still in hospital for treatment.
A grenade attack on the airport of Santa Barbara de Iscuanda, a town in the same department as Tumaco, killed at least one minor and injured four adults.
A third attack on Cajamarca, a town in the Tolima department, killed one and injured five, local newspaper El Nuevo Dia reported Thursday.
The Tumaco attack was carried out by rebels of the FARC’s Daniel Aldana column in cooperation with local drug trafficking groups like “Los Rastrojos” to protect the groups’ drug trafficking operations in the region, said the National Police Citizen Security director, General Rodolfo Palomino.
Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon told press that two suspects have been arrested in relation to the bombing. “A process has begun that will certainly take us to the perpetrators and masterminds of this serious situation,” Pinzon said.
The attacks in Cajamarca and Santa Barbara de Iscuanda were not attributed to illegal armed groups.