Police major injured in bomb attack in Antioquia

On Monday, in the midst of a process of verifying a suspicious package, the commander of Amalfi District 12, Jorge Arley Casallas, was injured by the detonation of an explosive device, according to the Antioquia authorities.

The events occurred in the municipality of Guadalupe, in Porce 3 sector, when the security forces received an alert for the presence of a wrapper, on the side of the road, with a flag alluding to the 36th front of the FARC dissidents. When the device exploded, both Commander Casallas and two others, including patrolman Jhonatan Martínez, were injured.

The officer had to be sent to a health center in Yarumal, because, as a result of the shrapnel, he suffered damage to his head, face and one of his hands. He is currently under observation at the San Vicente Fundación Hospital in Medellín. As Blu Radio learned, the condition of the 35-year-old uniformed man is stable.

For his part, patrolman Martínez, who was as a driver at the time of the explosion, was stunned, but he was able to rejoin without serious damage.

Investigations are progressing to clarify who were the perpetrators of the attack. However, the Antioquia Police initially attributed it to the 36th front of the FARC dissidents, which is led by alias' Cabuyo '. At first it was believed that he had died, but intelligence work would show that he is still alive and leading several attacks in the north of the department.

One of the most recent attacks occurred on Sunday morning on the Angostura-Yarumal highway. Armed men, who identified themselves as FARC dissidents, stopped a public service bus, forced passengers to abandon the vehicle and then set fire to it on the road.

Although there were no fatalities, the authorities pointed to the residual group 36, which would be behind the events.

According to the Secretary of Human Security of Antioquia, Luis Fernando Suárez, the armed group installed explosives on the road to attack the public forces: “Between Yarumal and Angostura, a bus was burned and, apparently, explosive devices were installed as a decoy so that, upon the arrival of the public forces, to commit an attack,” the official reported.

The explosives were detonated in a controlled manner by the authorities. After the events reported, operations were carried out by the Antioquia Police Command and the Fourth Army Brigade to find those responsible for this event.

Cases of complaints are reported daily where people are abducted in order to ask for money for their “prompt release”. These forms of extortion have national authorities on alert, mainly the Unified Action Groups for Personal Freedom (GAULA), of the Police, Army and Prosecutor's Office.

In dialogue with El Colombiano, Major Camilo Bello, commander of the Military Gaula of the Fourth Brigade, said: “It is not as easy today to commit a kidnapping as it was a few years ago. The capacity that we have Army, Prosecutor's Office and Police is no longer the same for bandits as was the case 15 or 20 years ago, when the famous 'miracle fishing' were done, mass kidnappings. It is no longer possible today.” He added that these “modes of rapture” are of a short time and not for months or years.

According to figures reported by the Office of the Ombudsman, the departments most affected by this crime are Valle del Cauca, which led the list with 24 cases; Antioquia with 22; Cauca with 13; and Cundinamarca with 12. Of the total number of recorded kidnappings, 44 were classified as simple kidnappings and 71 as extortive kidnappings.

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