Military personnel provide security in the areas surrounding the place where a car bomb exploded against the Timba Police Station, in the department of Cauca (southwest), Colombia, 20 September 2023. EFE/ Ernesto Guzman

At least two dead and two wounded in Colombian car bomb blast

Bogota, Sep 20 (EFE).- At least two people died and two wounded Wednesday when a car bomb exploded near a police station in Timba, in Colombia’s troubled Cauca department, where authorities are trying to deal with hostilities.

ACCOMPANYING CHRONICLE: COLOMBIA CONFLICT - AME1265. TIMBA (COLOMBIA), 09/20/2023.- Military personnel provide security in the areas surrounding the place where a car bomb exploded targeting the police station in Timba, in the department of Cauca (Colombia). EFE/ Ernesto Guzman
ACCOMPANYING CHRONICLE: COLOMBIA CONFLICT – AME1265. TIMBA (COLOMBIA), 09/20/2023.- Military personnel provide security in the areas surrounding the place where a car bomb exploded targeting the police station in Timba, in the department of Cauca (Colombia). EFE/ Ernesto Guzman

“In the department of Cauca, in the village of Timba, a car bomb exploded near the police station, approximately 50 meters away. Unfortunately, two people lost their lives, and two more were wounded,” said the deputy director of the police, Tito Castellanos.

The officer assured that after the attack, the uniformed are targeted by criminals, so the police are receiving support from the Military Forces to counteract the attack, which FARC dissidents apparently committed.

The governor of Cauca, Elías Larrahondo, told on the radio that the attack committed in Timba also left “damages in windows and doors,” as well as “the explosive wave ends up affecting everything around,” such as “the school and the hospital.”

Likewise, Larrahondo affirmed that today, there was also an attack against a police station in Santander de Quilichao and a military base of the Army in Suarez, without knowing how many people were wounded.

Precisely in this last municipality, the Government and the Central High Command (EMC), the largest dissidence of the demobilized FARC guerrilla, announced on Tuesday that they will set up a peace talks table next October 8 in the city of Tibú in the convulsive region of Catatumbo, when a bilateral ceasefire will also begin, which will last for ten months.

All this is to occur where the EMC columns in Cauca, especially Jaime Martinez, have increased their offensives, and violence has terrorized entire communities, such as Timba.

Last week, the dissidents attacked police stations in the municipalities of Buenos Aires, Suarez, Mondomo, Cajibio, and Jambalo, where they even shot at army helicopters.

In addition to FARC dissidents, the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas operate in the region, a group with which the government has a bilateral ceasefire in effect and is negotiating peace. EFE

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