BOGOTA, Jan 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro confirmed one soldier was killed and 12 others injured Wednesday in an attack with explosives in Turbo, a town in the country’s northwest Antioquia Department.
The attack on a military unit of the army’s Seventeenth Brigade was blamed on the local Clan del Golfo (Gulf Clan).
“We have 12 wounded and one deceased soldier, the professional soldier Orlando Caballero, in actions against the Clan del Golfo in Turbo,” the president said in a post on social media site X, formerly Twitter.
The Colombian Army explained on the same social network that “two non-commissioned officers and 10 soldiers were injured as a result of the explosive device,” and they were “immediately evacuated and … receiving specialized medical care.”
The attack came amid military operations being carried out “to protect the lives of Turbo residents,” the army said.
Antioquia Gov. Andres Rendon convened an extraordinary security council and offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the attack, especially ringleader Wilder de Jesus Alcaraz, alias “El Indio.”
“We are offering up to 50 million pesos (about 12,838 U.S. dollars) as a reward for information that allows us to capture ‘El Indio’, whom the army accuses of having been responsible for the attack against our soldiers,” he said on social media.
President Gustavo Petro has been looking to cement a “total peace” plan in the South American country by negotiating peace agreements with all of its armed groups, including leftists guerrillas and trafficking organizations.
The government has ongoing peace negotiations with several different organizations, but has had difficulty holding talks with the Gulf Clan. Last year, the government and the group agreed to a cease-fire, but the authorities halted conversations after accusing the drug cartel of being behind attacks during a mining protest, and the army restarted military operations against it.
In December, six soldiers died and six others were injured in an attack that the government attributed to dissidents from Colombia’s once largest rebel movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. — NNN-AGENCIES
